Roskosmos may start using a nuclear tug to clear orbits
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Roscosmos CEO Yuri Borisov said that the company is considering using the Zeus nuclear tug to clear orbits of space debris. He stated this at the Tsiolkovsky International Film Festival of Films and Programs about Space (IFF).
“We have a program to create a nuclear tug Zeus. By 2030 we hope to receive this product. Due to powerful energy, he can change the orbit. There is an idea to use this tug to clean at least geostationary highly elliptical orbits, ”Borisov said at the Kaluga Film Festival (quote according to TASS).
According to the director, with the help of a tug it is planned to either dispose of space debris or take its fragments further from the Earth’s orbits. He noted that “Zeus” will act as an additional function to scientific tasks.
On December 10, 2020, Roskosmos and its Arsenal design bureau signed a contract for the development of a preliminary project – a scientific study that justifies the implementation of a new development – a nuclear tug for deep space flight. The cost of the agreement amounted to more than 4.17 billion rubles, and the end date was July 2024.
The creation of elements for a nuclear tug began back in 2010, and in 2019 its first mock-up was shown at the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2019. A year later, at the Army-2020 forum, they showed a three-dimensional graphics of the tug in space.
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