According to the executive director of Roscosmos Alexander Bloshenko, while it is possible to deliver a smaller mass there
MOSCOW, December 2. /tass/. The Zeus nuclear tug, which is currently being developed in Russia, will be able to deliver tens of tons of payload to the satellites of Jupiter. This was announced by the Executive Director of Roscosmos for Advanced Programs and Science Alexander Bloshenko.
"The solutions that we are laying down will allow us to deliver tens of tons of payload, for example, to the satellites of Jupiter. You will not be able to deliver such a mass of payload in any other way right now. There we are not talking about the mass of the entire apparatus, but about the mass of the payload, which is scientific equipment, special probing radar equipment," Bloshenko said at the All-Russian Cosmonautics and Aviation Forum "CosmoStart 2021".
According to the executive director of Roscosmos, it is still possible to deliver a smaller mass there. "If we are talking about a kilogram or a fraction of a kilogram, then we can launch a small probe," he said.
In December 2020, it became known that Roscosmos and Arsenal Design Bureau signed a contract for the development of an advance project of the nuclear tugboat "Nucleon", which will be used for flights into deep space. The contract value is more than 4.17 billion rubles. It was concluded on December 10. The end date of the contract is indicated as July 28, 2024.
At the end of December 2020, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, announced that the device would be called "Zeus". Its first mission is scheduled for 2030.
