The Ministry of Defense of Russia has published the appearance and technical characteristics of the new Russian ultralight carrier rocket "Irkut" for space purposes. This became known on Saturday, October 9.
Its launch is planned to be carried out from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region in 2024. This was announced by the head of the cosmodrome Nikolay Bashlyaev, his deputy Alexey Nikolaev, a researcher at the cosmodrome Vadim Duga and the head of the department of the Mozhaisky Military Space Academy Dmitry Mosin.
"In the issue of the development of domestic ultralight class launch vehicles, we can note the project being developed by the specialists of JSC TsNIIMash to create an ultralight class carrier rocket Irkut," the material says " Space Technology and Technologies " of the scientific journal of the rocket and Space corporation "Energia".
Additionally, the article notes that the rocket will exist in two versions: disposable and reusable. The weight of the first option will be 23.6 tons, the second - 25 tons. The first type will deliver 584 kg of cargo to near—Earth orbit, while 84 kg to geostationary orbit. As for the reusable version, the weight of the delivered cargo is estimated at 398 kg and 60 kg, respectively.
The oxygen-methane pair in the rocket will be used as fuel, and heptyl with amyl will be used in the upper stage.
On October 8, it became known that two launches of the ANGARA-A5 heavy launch vehicle and two launches of its light version are planned from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in 2022. This was reported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Sergei Suroviki.
ANGARA is a family of Russian environmentally friendly launch vehicles of various classes. It includes light carriers "Angara-1.2", heavy "Angara-A5" and upgraded "Angara-A5M", increased payload "Angara-A5B". The first launch of the Angara-A5 took place in December 2014, the second test launch of the rocket was carried out from Plesetsk on December 14, 2020.
