Alwaght- Russian President Vladimir Putin has set a task of accelerating work on a super-heavy rocket, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has said.
Speaking to journalists on Monday after a government meeting on the space industry development in Moscow, he added that, "We looked at a serious perspective - a perspective of developing a super-heavy-class rocket."
Rogozin pointed out that President Putin set a task for Roscosmos [Russia’s state space corporation] to accelerate work by means of developing the technologies presented by general designers. He noted that this type will appear after 2025 and will make it possible to fly around the moon.
According to Rogozin, the government has approved a plan of further use of the Baikonur spaceport, which will be discussed in Kazakhstan within days. "We plan to immediately start work on a medium-class rocket that would be competitive with the United States’ latest developments on the commercial services market," he said, adding that this rocket will have a carrying capacity of 17 tonnes.
Apart from that, in his words, it is planned to use Baikonur’s launching pad for Zenit rockets. He said this work will be part of the plan for the development of a super-heavy-class rocket and stressed the importance of large-scale cooperation with Kazakhstan.
Last April Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country will go on building up its potential in the space industry and ten years to come will see the emergence of quite a few breakthrough technologies.
Putin also emphasized the need for enhancing international cooperation in space, first and foremost in the sphere of applied and fundamental research.
He also noted that "the success of Russia’s space program depended on the people, so it is very important to attract generations of young researchers with a high level of knowledge and advanced competencies into efforts to address thrilling and ambitious tasks."
