Russia is developing an ambitious air-launched space transportation system to become operational in 2003 with backing from Arab countries, officials of the Vozdushny Start (Air Launch) company announced Thursday, August 16.
Negotiations with Arab investors are under way and "we expect to have the money probably by the end of the year, with a first launch set for the end of 2003," company president Anatoly Karpov told a press conference at the fifth Moscow Air Show.
The $120 to $130 million cost is considered relatively modest, corresponding to six individual satellite launches by rocket, which usually cost around $20 million (€21.8 million). "The cost is on the low side because we are reckoning on being able to use components which already exist," company spokesman Leonid Shirobokov told AFP, citing the Russo-Ukrainian air transporter Ruslan.
Air Launch was created as a private company in 1997 as a partnership venture between the Russian space constructor RKK Energuia and the airline Polyot which operates seven Ruslans. The Russian government is to make four Ruslan aircraft available to the company for the project, of which the first is to be delivered next week by the Aviastar plant at Ulyanovsk, on the Volga river, Shirobokov said.
The Air Launch system will be capable of placing payloads of between three and four tons into orbit, suitable for telecommunications satellites, navigation systems and equipment for surveying the earth and other planets.
The Ruslan, which will require modifications before it can be used for the project, will also serve as a base for launches to an altitude of 10 or 11 kilometers (six or seven miles) using a new two-stage launcher called Polyot designed by RKK Energuia. The Polyot launcher, due to become operational shortly, will be relatively "clean" ecologically because the fuel mixture does not use the toxic element geptil.
The air launches will be considerably cheaper than normal rocket launches from the ground, though the company has so far refused to announce a price. The Ruslan could take off from either Russia or the territory of the client country, the company said. "Any region can suit a Ruslan take-off as long as the tarmac is at least three kilometres long," Shirobokov said.
Private companies from Arab countries have offered to join in the project, proposing to build aerodromes to allow the Ruslan to transit via their territory. The Russian government last year offered to finance the project in total, but Air Launch declined, believing that this would entail a loss of independence. ― (AFP, Zhukovsky)
by Victoria Loguinova
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
