Russia to develop cargo retrievable spacecraft Soyuz GVK

Cargo retrievable spacecraft will be able to deliver two tonnes of cargoes into orbit and return 500 kg to the Earth.

A Russian cargo retrievable spacecraft is expected to be developed for the needs of a new orbital station in 2022. The development of the Soyuz GVK (cargo retrievable spacecraft) is planned to be completed in 2022.

A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a large lifting capacity is planned to be used for the spacecraft's launch.

A cargo retrievable spacecraft will be able to deliver two tonnes of cargoes into orbit and return 500 kg to the Earth and the spacecraft's detachable compartment will have a capacity to house about another tonne of disposable cargo, which will burn in the dense layers of the atmosphere, According to the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation.

Energia Rocket and Space Corporation also plans to create a new orbiter that will consist of five modules with a total weight of 60 tonnes.

Today only US Dragon space vehicles can return cargoes from orbit. Russian Progress spacecraft deliver cargoes to the ISS but later bury them in remote areas of the Pacific Ocean after their service life expires.

The concept of the Soyuz GVK retrievable spacecraft resurfaced at the annual Korolev Readings in January 2018 among other concepts unveiled by Designer General at RKK Energia Evgeny Mikrin.

The shown architecture of the retrievable spacecraft remained seemingly unchanged, but the vehicle was now designed to be launched on the Soyuz-2-1b rocket, the most powerful version in the Soyuz launcher family available at the time.

Mikrin's presentation apparently did not mention the concept of the new-generation non-retrievable cargo ship, whose design was in development in the previous two years, but stalled due to lack of funding.