MOSCOW. Sept 2 (Interfax-AVN) - The Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has requested over 200 billion rubles for the development of a super-heavy-lift rocket to be launched from the Vostochny space center, says a draft federal space program for 2016-2025 presented for the government's consideration.
"The experimental development of a super-heavy-lift launch vehicle, which will be able to transport payloads of at least 80 tonnes of low near-Earth orbits and at least 20 tonnes to near-Moon polar orbits with a manned spaceship booster, will be completed in 2025," the document states.
Roscosmos has also asked for 151.6 billion rubles to construct a super-heavy-lift rocket launch site at the Vostochny space center.
The draft federal program provides the possibility of enlarging power capacities of the super-heavy-lift rocket with an oxygen and hydrogen booster unit. The experimental development of this booster will start in 2021. Roscosmos estimates the cost of its development and initial testing at 60.5 billion rubles.