The Ukrainian Yuzhnoy company, a manufacturer of satellites and launch systems, including the Zenit satellite launcher, presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Prague a concept of a super heavy satellite launcher, based on the Zenit rocket as part of its first stage
The Ukrainian Yuzhnoi company, a manufacturer of satellites and launch systems, including the Zenit satellite launcher (which launched the Israeli satellite Amos 3 in 2008), presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Prague a concept of a super heavy satellite launcher, based on the Zenit rocket as part of its first stage.
Yuzhnoi engineers propose to attach several assemblies of the Zenit satellite launcher together, in different configurations, in order to obtain a single satellite launcher capable of lifting into space for an initial orbit at an altitude of 200 km) ranging from 25 tons for the "small" model to 69 tons for the heavy model most.
The Ukrainian proposal examined the potential of using today's heavy launchers (Delta 4, Atlas 5, Ariane 5 and Long March 5), as well as the potential of the proposed Ares 5 satellite launcher, and concluded that their design would outperform all competitors. It should be emphasized that at this stage this is an initial proposal and planning funded by the plant, and not in response to a government demand by the Russian or Ukrainian space agency.
The demand for particularly heavy launchers is visible on the horizon, as communication satellites are getting bigger, and also unmanned research missions (such as future space telescopes and of course manned missions to the moon, Mars and beyond) will be able to use the large launch capabilities of this type of launcher.
