Energia Vulkan Hercules (variant 2a)

Vulkan-Hercules

Mission Profile

Energia Vulkan Hercules (Variant 2a) was a proposed Soviet super-heavy-lift configuration studied in the late 1980s as an even more capable successor to the operational Energia rocket. Standing approximately 82 meters tall with a liftoff mass of 3,072,000 kg and generating 49,329 kN of thrust, it was envisioned with eight liquid-propellant booster stages wrapped around an enlarged core, potentially delivering well over 170,000 kg to LEO. The Vulkan-Hercules concept explored the upper limits of Soviet heavy-lift ambitions for Mars missions and large space station construction, but never progressed beyond the design study phase as the Soviet space program contracted in the final years of the USSR.