MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th October, 2020) Russian state space agency Roscosmos has earmarked over 20 billion roubles ($261 million) to boost the carrying capacity of the Angara launch vehicle.
According to the government's state procurement website, the agency intends to revamp the rocket systems oxygen/hydrogen upper stage which delivers payloads to their destinations.
Lead Designer at the Salyut Design Bureau of the Khrunichev Center, Sergey Kuznetsov, last year told Sputnik that the modernized upper stage boosters are set to take flights in 2027.
The procurement website indicates that the state has already allocated 1.7 billion rubles for research and development until 2022.
Head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin last year unveiled plans to expands the carrying capacity of the Angara-A5M heavy class rockets from around 4 tonnes in the payload to 5 tonnes, and the Angara-A5V from 5.5 tonnes to 8 tonnes of payload.
