Moscow, July 15 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Test launches of Russia’s new booster rocket Angara are to start in 2013, the rocket designer said Thursday.
Vladimir Nesterov, head of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre, said the rocket assembly would be completed in the first quarter of 2011, adding the first-stage engine was ’99 percent ready’ and the second-stage engine had already been tested three times.
Angara rockets, designed to provide lifting capabilities between 2,000 and 40,500 kg into low earth orbit, are expected to become the core of Russia’s unmanned launcher fleet.
The main purpose of the Angara rocket family is to give Russia independent access to space. The rockets will reduce Russia’s dependence on Baikonur Space Centre it leases from Kazakhstan.
Khrunichev is also developing a super-heavy-lift version, the Angara 7, capable of orbiting payloads of 45 to 75 tonnes, and for which there is no equivalent in Russia’s current rocket fleet.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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