Energia Vulkan Hercules (variant 1)

Vulkan-Hercules

Mission Profile

The Energia Vulkan Hercules (variant 1) (Vulkan-Hercules) was a proposed two-to-three-stage Soviet super-heavy launch vehicle concept in the Energia family, an enormous variant using eight Energia strap-on boosters around a central Energia core under the Energia programme. Standing approximately 82 m tall with a 7.8 m core diameter and a projected liftoff mass of 3,072 tonnes, it would have generated 49,329 kN of thrust. Conceived around 1989, the Vulkan Hercules represented the extreme end of Energia-derived vehicle studies but was rendered moot by the collapse of the Soviet Union.