Falcon Rockets Launched In More Favorable Conditions Than Russia's Angara - Roscosmos CEO

Falcon Rockets Launched in More Favorable Conditions Than Russia's Angara - Roscosmos CEO

The Falcon family of rockets produced by the US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX are launched in more favorable geographical conditions than Russian Angara counterparts, as proximity to equator boosts the rockets' speed due to Earth's rotation, CEO of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th January, 2019) The Falcon family of rockets produced by the US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX are launched in more favorable geographical conditions than Russian Angara counterparts, as proximity to equator boosts the rockets' speed due to Earth's rotation, CEO of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin said on Thursday.

"As for the Falcon Heavy, Elon Musk's super heavy-lift rocket. It can lift 45 tonnes of payload to the low Earth orbit. If we deliver the Angara-5 of an advanced class with a hydrogen-fueled stage, which we are already creating now not to the Vostochny cosmodrome or Baikonur, but to Cape Canaveral, closer to the equator, it will be those 45 tonnes. They have a geographical advantage - their rockets of a similar class can lift more payload due to the fact that they are closer to the equator," Rogozin told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.

The Angara family of space-launch vehicles is designed to provide lifting capabilities of between 2 and 40 tonnes into low Earth orbit. It has been in development since 1995 and was the first orbit-capable rocket developed by Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union to replace the older Proton-M rockets.

SpaceX has touted the Falcon Heavy as the world's most powerful rocket, capable of delivering 54 tonnes of . The first Falcon Heavy made a demonstration flight in February, 2018. The next launch is slated for March, 2019.