Russia To Devise New Carrier Rocket For Sea Launch In Five Years

Russian Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) is planning to devise a new carrier rocket for Sea Launch floating space pad project in the next five years.

"This symbiosis, I am sure, will allow us to to create a new launch vehicle in absolutely short deadlines. I myself see a reference point of five years," General Director of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, Vladimir Solntsev was quoted as saying by Sputnik Friday.

Sea Launch was formed in 1995 as a consortium of four companies from Norway, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, and was managed by US aerospace giant Boeing. The project aimed to use a floating launch site to place rockets on the equator – the best possible location for launch – which gives the rocket additional speed on lift-off thanks to centripetal force caused by Earth's rotation. Sea Launch resumed operations in 2011 after a 30-month hiatus that saw passage through US Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now the company is 95-percent owned by Energia Overseas Limited, a subsidiary of Energia.