OREANDA-NEWS. Roscosmos State Corporation intends to sign an agreement with MTKS private company on cooperation in the creation of a reusable transport spacecraft. Such information is contained in the minutes of the August meeting in Roskosmos. Now Russia doesn't have reusable spacecraft.

The designed ship launched by means of a launch vehicle will be capable of delivering payloads weighing up to 2 tons into orbit and then returning loads weighing up to 1 tonne to Earth. The descent takes place according to a ballistic pattern with braking by landing engines, switched on at a height of 250 m. Landing is carried out on a retractable shock-absorbing shield, extendable at a height of 100 m.

The main purpose of the ship is to supply the orbital manned station. “The use of a reusable ship, which means returning and saving expensive equipment, will significantly reduce the costs and cost of cargo delivery. Ultimately, this will reduce the cost of the space program as a whole”, Sopov said.

Over the ten years of operation, the MTKS expects to earn $ 500 million from the use of the reusable transport ship, follows from the presentation that was demonstrated at the meeting at Roskosmos on August 6. The estimated cost of one cycle (launch and landing) is $ 9.846 million. The total cost of 20 cycles of operation is estimated at $ 196 million, including after-flight maintenance, the document says.

According to the characteristics of the Argo, it is closest to the Elon Mask Dragon ship or the future Chinese development (no name yet). The creator of the Open Space community Vitaly Yegorov calls the estimated cost of a flight of $ 10 million a very optimistic figure. “Dragon’s state-funded flight can be estimated at $ 40 million, Progress’s flight at about $ 20 million. Due to its reusability, it can be assumed that Argo will be cheaper”, Yegorov said.