The restoration of the Russian floating cosmodrome Sea Launch will require 28 billion rubles, a source in the rocket and space industry told RIA Novosti.
According to him, a similar assessment was made by the S7 group of companies, which owns the launch pad and related infrastructure. It is noted that of the named amount, 15 billion are needed to restore the launch platform and create a new rocket.
The interlocutor added that S7 has already spent 14 billion on Sea Launch, in particular, for its purchase and transportation to Russia.
In June, the agency, citing Rosatom, reported that the cost of Sea Launch was 11 billion rubles.
In March, the head of the Institute for Space Policy, Ivan Moiseev, predicted that Sea Launch would be cut into scrap metal because of its uselessness.
Work on the creation of a floating cosmodrome began in 1995. The founders of the company are Boeing, Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, the Norwegian shipbuilding company Kvaerner (modern Aker Solutions), the Ukrainian design bureau Yuzhnoye and the Yuzhmash plant. In 2009, Sea Launch filed for bankruptcy. After the reorganization, Energia took the leading role in the project. In 2018, the S7 group of companies closed the deal for the purchase of the project's property complex, becoming the full owner of the floating cosmodrome. The total amount of the transaction, including the withdrawal from conservation, was about $ 150 million.
