Russian developers proposed to equip the Rokot missile with an additional reusable first stage and use aircraft turbojet engines instead of rocket units. This follows from the documents published in the Rospatent database. “The reusable first stage of the launch vehicle contains six aircraft turbojet engines with afterburners mounted at regular angular intervals on the inner power housing of an annular section, divided in height into three compartments,” the text says.

As conceived by specialists from the Technological University. Leonov (Moscow State Technical University), the first stage with R579-300 aircraft engines will accelerate the rocket to a height of 20 kilometers. Further, the rocket will continue its journey with the help of its own engines. The first stage will then return to the ground due to parachutes and three engines.

To accelerate the Rokot with such a stage, the rocket will have to be transferred from toxic fuels to an oxygen-kerosene pair. The return stage is planned to be refueled only for landing in order to save weight. Starship Troopers: Construction of the National Space Center in Moscow The building will become part of a large industry complex

Earlier, on April 10, the general director of the Center. M.V. Khrunichev Alexei Varochko said that Russia has begun to create the first Rokot-M launch vehicle with a domestic control system instead of the Ukrainian one. In May last year, Aleksey Varochko announced that the first launch of the launch vehicle would take place in 2024. After a detailed audit, it was decided not to use the existing management system, but to create a new one based on domestic technologies.

In June 2020, the Khrunichev Center confirmed the resumption of production of Rokot-M missiles without the use of Ukrainian parts. Initially, the first launch was planned for 2022.Share: