Company C7 wants to take in the ISS concession and launch nuclear-powered tugs

NASA drawing

The Trump administration is proposing to privatize the US segment of the ISS and transfer it for use to private firms at the end of its operational life in 2025. In this regard, the question arises - what to do with the Russian segment? It turns out that there is also an option with commercial use. For example, Sergei Sopov, CEO of C7 Space Transport Systems, spoke in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper about plans to build an orbital space center.

Roscosmos, NASA and other space agencies are planning to create a visited station in circumlunar orbit. Accordingly, funds for the operation of two stations at once - the ISS and the Moon - will not be enough for either Russia or the United States. In this regard, all the States participating in the MKS project are interested in attracting private companies to work in low near-earth orbit. We are ready to cooperate with Roskosmos in this matter. For us, the Russian segment of the ISS is of interest as a scientific and industrial platform, where you can set up unique production, spacecraft assembly, organize a “hub” for further expansion - the exploration of the Moon and Mars.

According to the businessman, it is more profitable and safer to assemble interplanetary ships and probes from small modules directly in orbit, and first to deliver the crews to the station and from there to ship to the ship that flies to, say, the Moon. That is, the orbital cosmodrome will work as a transshipment base for flights into deep space.

Sergey Sopov believes that his company can deliver cargo to the Moon and Mars using a tug with a nuclear power propulsion system (YAEDU) of the megawatt class. In order to circumvent the international ban on the use of nuclear systems in low-Earth orbit, Sopov proposes in the future to increase the height of the ISS flight to 600 km.

Now, C7 Space Transport Systems intends to apply to Roskosmos with a proposal to surrender the Russian part of the station in concession.

In 2016, the parent company of CJSC “Group of Companies„ S7 “” Vladislav Filev bought from Sea Launch the floating launch site “Sea Launch” and the trademark Sea Launch. While the deal is not closed, the company offers on the market services for launching satellites on Zenit launch vehicles from Baikonur (Land Launch). C7 Space Transport Systems LLC is the project operator.

The first two stages of the launch vehicle for the company are manufactured by the enterprise Yuzhmash (the city of Dnepr). Now an order is made for 12 Zenit, one is in production. Final assembly is carried out in the USA.

Sergey Sopov believes that the use of cheap two-stage Zenit rockets is more profitable than three-stage expensive carriers like the Soyuz-5 (in fact, a fat Zenit rocket), and also more profitable than return-level rockets like the Falcon 9 from SpaceX: theory it is known that the effectiveness of a reusable system begins with six starts per year. If there are fewer launches, it is better to use a cheap disposable rocket, ”said Sopov.

The general director of the company says that it represents the “C7 space transportation systems” as the first space transportation company in the world, if the following elements are available:

• Cheap and reliable media with launches from the equator under the Sea Launch program, as well as from Baikonur under the Land Launch program;
• Infrastructure in low Earth orbit in the form of the ISS;
• Vehicles for interorbital and interplanetary transportation with the nuclear propulsion system.