MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax-AVN) - The Energia Corporation will take part in the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) tender for a super-heavy-lift launch vehicle, Energia President and General Designer Vitaly Lopota told Interfax-AVN.
"Our proposals about the appearance, main characteristics, stages and possible timeframe of these works are well known. For instance, we propose to create a launch vehicle with a lifting capacity of 65-75 tonnes based on technology developed in the Energia LV project and used in the Sea Launch program in the first stage [in the period until 2020]. The technologies may be used in the development of a launch vehicle with a lifting capacity of approximately 130-150 tonnes at the second stage. The corporation is ready to make this bid at the tender," Lopota said.
The corporation has been urging the development of a super-heavy-lift launch vehicle in Russia for a number of years, he said.
Roscosmos head Oleg Ostapenko has said many times that the tender for a super-heavy-lift launch vehicle was being discussed at a working group of the heads and representatives of leading space industry plants.