MOSCOW, February 17 The Zeus space tug being developed in Russia with a nuclear power plant has nothing to do with nuclear weapons, said Nathan, a leading researcher at the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Eismont.
Earlier, the American media, citing their sources, reported that US legislators could have been told at a secret briefing about Russia's alleged plans to “place nuclear weapons in space” for use against satellites.
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" This is not relevant. A nuclear tug is a normal reactor, not very large, of which there are many on earth and which are used to generate electrical energy, and it’s the same there (in space). “It has nothing to do with nuclear weapons,” Eismont said.
The nuclear tug has been developed in Russia since 2010. Earlier, First Deputy General Director of Roscosmos Yuri Urlichich, in one of his presentations, spoke about plans for the first flight into orbit in 2030 for flight tests.
It was reported that the nuclear tug will be designed for flights to The moon and planets of the solar system. It was named «Zeus», and the research and development work itself is called «Nuklon».
In October 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the implementation of the program will be provided with the necessary funding, since deep space exploration without a nuclear tug will be impossible.