Russian rockets to launch from French Guiana in 08

[flynn]

<i>From NewScientist</i><br /><br />Russian rockets will be launched from the European Space Agency's spaceport in French Guiana in 2008, following an agreement signed on Monday. The rockets will launch medium-weight satellite payloads into orbit and might one day send people into space.<br /><br />Russia usually launches its Soyuz rockets from a leased base in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, while the French rocket company Arianespace launches its own rockets from the European Space Agency's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on the north coast of South America. <br /><br />Now, Russian and Arianespace officials meeting in Moscow have signed an agreement whereby Soyuz rockets will blast off from Kourou. The deal specifies that Europe will provide €344 million to build the launch pad, while Russia provides the hardware by erecting a tower for the launch pad, shipping over the rockets, and making any changes necessary for them to operate in Kourou's equatorial climate.<br /><br />The Soyuz rockets normally lift 1.6-tonne-payloads into orbit from Baikonur, but they will get an added boost from Kourou's location nearer to the equator, where the benefit of Earth’s spin is most felt. From there, a Soyuz rocket will be able to launch payloads of about 3 tonnes into geostationary transfer orbit - an elliptical orbit that extends to about 25,000 kilometres above Earth.<br /><br />Filling a niche<br />That weight-bearing capacity will fill a niche between Arianespace's two other rocket lines. The company’s Vega rockets launch small scientific satellites weighing no more than 1.5 tonnes into relatively low orbit, while the company's two types of Ariane 5 rockets can launch 6.6 tonnes or 10.0 tonnes into geostationary transfer orbit, respectively.<br /><br />The Ariane 4 rocket - retired in 2003 after nearly 160 launches in 15 years - was able to carry between 2 and 5 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit.<br /><br />Arianespace expects to launch three to four Soyuz rockets per year, from 2008. It h <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#800080">"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring" - <strong>Chuck Palahniuk</strong>.</font> </div>

 

[quasar2]

actually i suggested this for buran a few years ago. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>