Eurockot Says It Has Enough Usable Missiles To Operate Through 2020

The German-Russian company offering commercial launch services using converted Russian SS-18 missiles said it has enough usable missile hardware to continue operations through the end of the decade and is maintaining prices at between 30 million and 32 million euros ($39 million-$44.6 million) per launch.

Bremen, Germany-based Eurockot Launch Services GmbH, a joint venture between Astrium of Germany and Khrunichev of Russia, is presenting itself as a low-cost alternative to Europe’s new government-backed Vega rocket, and to the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr vehicle, whose price is similar but whose future availability is unclear.

Markus Poetsch, a Eurockot mission manager who on Oct. 1 will become the company’s chief technical officer, said Eurockot’s price is all-inclusive — save for those with multisatellite payloads requiring special adaptors — and compares favorably with Vega, which was developed by the 20-nation European Space Agency (ESA), a major Eurockot customer, and has conducted two successful flights.

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