The Russian Defense Ministry will patent a device that moves the nuclear power plant away from the spacecraft. This is reported by TASS, referring to the patent application distributed by the Federal Institute of Industrial Property.
"The device for moving a nuclear power plant (nuclear power plant) away from a spacecraft (spacecraft) for laying electrical power and interface (low—current) cables of the removal system is a transformable spatial truss structure," the document says.
The application does not specify exactly how the patented device works.
In May, the General director of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said that currently there is not enough money for the project of the Zeus space nuclear tug, which would help Russia make a breakthrough in the rocket and space industry.
In April, the executive director of Roscosmos for advanced programs and science, Alexander Bloshenko, said that the same Zeus will be used in the flight to the Moon and Jupiter, but "with different payload modules, which will include special main engines."
In December 2021, Rogozin said that the state corporation plans to bring the Zeus nuclear tug to a "safe altitude of at least 800 kilometers by 2030, turn it on and start the first expedition."
