Head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin has agreed with Elon Musk’s thesis about the extraordinarily high cost of the American SLS rocket, which Musk called a "tragedy".
"Our super-heavy [launch vehicle] will cost much less than the American SLS, but now we need to consider solutions that will make the Yenisei even more competitive. In this matter, it is difficult to disagree with @elonmusk. Such startup costs will be difficult to pull even for the United States with its powerful economy", the head of space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin said on Twitter.
Наш сверхтяж будет стоить намного меньше американской SLS, но уже сейчас надо заложить решения, которые сделают "Енисей" ещё более конкурентоспособным. В этом вопросе сложно не согласиться с @elonmusk . Такие расходы на пуск сложно будет потянуть даже США с их мощной экономикой https://t.co/JOZYCbKVa5
— Дмитрий Рогозин (@Rogozin) January 17, 2020
In November, sources in the space and rocket industry said that Roscosmos was designing a Yenisei super-heavy rocket capable of delivering a payload weighing at least 100 tonnes into low Earth orbit, and 27 tonnes to the Moon. And its heavier load-carrying version, Don, can carry 140 tonnes and 33 tonnes, respectively.
Such rockets will be used to launch the Orel transport spacecraft with a lunar descent-ascent module and parts of a lunar base to the Moon.
