New York - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has confirmed that Ukraine's Tsyklon (Cyclone)-4 launch vehicle will blast off from Brazil's Alcantara space center in 2010.
“The first launch as part of the Tsyklon-4 project will be carried out in 2010,” Yushchenko told Ukrainian journalists in New York on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian leader said he had asked Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to help Ukraine’s National Space Agency secure a $260-million loan from Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development.
This money is needed to allow the Ukrainian National Space Agency to finish forming its charter capital and to accomplish a certain amount of work as part of the Tsyklon-4 project, Yushchenko said.
The Tsyklon-4 is the most advanced and powerful member of the Tsyklon launch vehicle family. It uses some of the technologies of its predecessor Tsyklon-3.
The Alcantara space center’s proximity to the equator helps increase the weight of a payload that should be placed into orbit by 30%-40%, using the maximum speed of the Earth’s rotation near the equator.
The Tsyklon project forms part of Ukraine’s plans to create a new basis for space exploration programs in the 21st century, which includes measures to begin exporting Ukrainian rockets to Latin American markets.
Ukraine’s 2010 draft budget proposes allocating UAH 80.54 million for the Tsyklon-4 project at Brazil’s Alcantara space center.
