top of page
ECOROCKET HEAVY
World's heaviest and most cost effective orbital rocket launcher
EcoRocket Heavy is an ecological, reusable, unprecedentedly cost effective rocket, able to launch 24 tones to LEO, that will be used by ArcaSpace to launch the 20 tones AMi Cargo asteroid mining vehicles.
There are two main elements that ArcaSpace will develop for the AMi program: the carrier rocket, EcoRocket Heavy, and the AMi Cargo spacecraft that will be used for the actual mining activity.
Before the fabrication of the EcoRocket Heavy, we developed the EcoRocket Demonstrator, a three-stage, reusable, small orbital rocket launcher build to serve as a technological demonstrator for the EcoRocket Heavy.This rocket able to launch a payload of 10 kg into LEO, aims to demonstrate two main features: cost effectiveness and environment protection.EcoRocket Heavy is an ecological, reusable, unprecedentedly low-cost rocket, able to launch 24 tons to LEO, that will be used by ArcaSpace to launch the asteroid mining vehicles.The first five Propulsion Modules for the EcoRocket Heavy were presented on July 1st, 2023.

The third stage is placed around the payload and is made of two rows of propulsion modules, accounting for a total of 30 units. The second stage is wrapped around the third stage and is made of three rows of propulsion modules, accounting for a total of 90 units, while the first stage is made of seven rows of propulsion modules, accounting for a total of 420 units.
In total, EcoRocket Heavy has 540 propulsion modules.The EcoRocket Heavy has a maximum diameter of 34.5 m, a length of 28 m, an empty mass of 188 t.
With a total launch mass, including the payload, of 5,443 t, and a take-off thrust of 12,600 tons, EcoRocket Heavy is the heaviest and has the highest thrust compared to any other vehicle ever built. It also promises the lowest cost/kg ever recorded.

We think that the problem with the development of a heavy launcher is mainly the difficulty to fabricate and operate large structures. The infrastructure that is required to manipulate a fragile tank that is 10 m in diameter, tens of meters long and weights tens of tons is extremely demanding and it might represent an important portion of the cost.
We decided therefore that the EcoRocket Heavy is going to be made of small structures easy to manipulate.​
EcoRocket Heavy will use the EcoRocket Demonstrator’s first stage as a Propulsion Module (PM), which is an individual rocket in itself. Multiple PMs are strapped together to create a bigger, more capable structure, able to lift significantly more payload. So, EcoRocket Heavy has an unusual configuration for a rocket as it is wider than taller.The transport is also simplified, the propulsion modules being carried by regular size tracks.
Technical characteristics



bottom of page