Russia has stopped development of the Proton M rocket.
Russia had indicated a month ago that they were giving up on commercial space launch. Russia cannot compete with SpaceX or China in launch costs.
Angara rocket still going forward
Above is a picture of the Russian Angara rocket
The Russian Angara rocket will be able to replace Protons no earlier than 2024. Angara is a family of Russia-designed space rockets of different classes, from light to heavy, created as a substitute for the Proton-M and the Rokot vehicles. The new generation rocket uses environmentally clean propellant components. Angara has only had two launches, both from the northern space site Plesetsk. A light Angara-1.2PP blasted off in July 2014, and heavy Angara-A5, in December 2014.
Some nice photos of the Angara A5 pic.twitter.com/And3e3giZ9
— NickStevens Graphics (@runnymonkey) August 17, 2018
As Russia makes a greater push toward Angara rockets, it is sidelining development of Proton Medium, a vehicle ILS hoped would compete head on with SpaceX's Falcon 9. https://t.co/BD6AOusalK
— Caleb Henry (@CHenry_SN) August 30, 2018
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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