Will Russia beat Musk and SpaceX with a nuclear rocket?

Russia is rapidly developing a new reusable nuclear rocket to compete with Musk and SpaceX and It Keldysh Research Centre has now been working on its reusable rocket solution for nearly a decade now, and now it’s ramping up the hype with a new concept video showing how its spacecraft works.

Vladimir Koshlakov explained that Elon Musk and SpaceX pose no real threat to the group’s plans because Musk is relying on old technology that will soon be antiquated, while Russia is looking forward to changing the future of spaceflight.

Koshlakov, say that their nuclear-powered system will be able to make it to Mars in under seven months and that its reusable rocket stages can be put back into space within 48 hours.

“Reusability is the priority, we must develop engines that do not need to be fine-tuned or repaired more than once every ten flights. Also, 48 hours after the rocket returns from space, it must be ready to go again. This is what the market demands.”

Since SpaceX is currently the biggest name in reusable rocket tech, the topic of competition was raised by reporters. Koshlakov’s answer is somewhat predictable but nonetheless interesting.

“Elon Musk is using the existing tech, developed a long time ago,” he noted. “He is a businessman: he took a solution that was already there, and applied it successfully. Notably, he is also doing his work with help from the government.”

This is not the first time Musk has been contradicted by scientists from Russia. Last year, the director of Russia’s top spaceflight contractor made some rather harsh statements asserting that the SpaceX boss was crazy if he thought that SpaceX would be able to send paying passengers on trips into space.