Cyclone-4M

Cyclone-4M
Function	Carrier rocket
Manufacturer	Pivdenne (design); Pivdenmash (manufacturing); Khartron (control system);
Country of origin	Ukraine
Project cost	$304M (projection, $148M spaceport included)
Cost per launch	$45M-$60M (projections)
Size
Height	38.7 m (127.0 ft)
Diameter	4.0 m (13 ft)
Stages	2
Capacity
Payload to 200 km LEO (45.3°)
Mass	5,000 kg (11,000 lb)
	[ edit on Wikidata]

Last updated September 16, 2025

N₂O₄ / UDMH

The Cyclone-4M is a Ukrainian carrier rocket which is being developed for commercial satellite launches.

History

The Cyclone-4M is derived from the Tsyklon-4, which started its life as an all-hypergolic three-stage-to-orbit expendable launch vehicle planned for launch from a proposed site at the Alcântara Launch Center in Brazil. However, Brazil backed out of the partnership with Ukraine in 2015, citing concerns over the project budget, the ongoing financial situation in both countries, and the future of the commercial launch market.^[7] In March 2017, Canadian company Maritime Launch Services announced plans to begin launching a modified version, the Cyclone-4M, which features a Zenit-derived LOX / RP-1 first stage in place of the originally planned R-36 ICBM-based first- and second-stage.

In November 2021, Maritime Launch Services CEO Stephen Matier stated that Nanoracks was to be the first client to fly a payload on the Cyclone-4M.^[8]

Design

This new first-stage design would use four kerolox engines derived from the RD-120 used on the second stage of the Zenit. The standard RD-120, however, while manufactured in Ukraine, uses a number of Russian-made components which would have to be replaced with Ukrainian-made equivalents. It is also planned to fit each of these engines with a gimballing mechanism for steering (in the Zenit second stage the RD-120 is fixed to the frame while an RD-8 four-nozzle vernier engine takes care of the steering).^[4] The second stage completed qualification tests in October 2019.^[9]

Spaceport Nova Scotia

Cyclone-4M was planned to launch from a site in Canso, Nova Scotia.^[10] Construction was originally scheduled to begin in 2018.^[1]^[11] However, repeated delays pushed the start of construction to September 2022 for the access road, and March 2023 for work to start on the first launch pad.^[12] MLS completed construction on the first launch pad in 2024. However, because of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the uncertainty it caused, MLS terminated the agreement to launch Cyclone from Spaceport Nova Scotia by third quarter 2024.^[13]

References

1 2 3 4 Ruskin, Brett; Williams, Cassie (14 March 2017). "T-minus 1 year until rocket launch site construction starts in Nova Scotia". CBC News . Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
↑ "About". Maritime Launch Services. Retrieved 15 October 2017. Cyclone 4M will be available for $45M USD per launch.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Cyclone-4M". Yuzhnoye Design Office. Archived from the original on 2018-07-04. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Zak, Anatoly (19 March 2017). "Tsyklon-4M (Cyclone-4M) prepares a move to Canada". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
↑ "Precious Payload Partners With Maritime Launch, Adding Canada's First Commercial Spaceport, Spaceport Nova Scotia, to Launch.ctrl Marketplace". Business Wire (Press release). 8 December 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
1 2 Zak, Anatoly (4 April 2017). "RD-870 could become Ukraine's first booster engine". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
↑ de Selding, Peter B. (16 April 2015). "Brazil Pulling Out of Ukrainian Cyclone-4 Launcher Project". SpaceNews . Retrieved 9 April 2016.
↑ Doucette, Keith (22 November 2021). "Proposed N.S. spaceport announces payload client for 1st rocket launch". CBC News . Retrieved 10 December 2022.
↑ "Cyclone 4M fully integrated upper stage performs successful qualification test" (Press release). Yuzhnoye Design Office and Maritime Launch Services. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
↑ Doucette, Keith (14 March 2017). "Small Nova Scotia fishing community picked as launch site for rockets". TheStar.com. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
↑ Boucher, Marc (14 March 2017). "Exclusive: Maritime Launch Services Selects Nova Scotia Site for Spaceport Over 13 Other Locations". SpaceQ. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
↑ Bamford, Craig (4 August 2023). "Spaceport Nova Scotia First Launch Pad Under Construction". SpaceQ. Calgary: SpaceQ Media Inc. Archived from the original on 24 August 2025. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
↑ Grant, Taryn (2 August 2024). "Canada strikes deal to use U.S. space tech, clearing way for rocket launch pad in N.S." CBC News . Halifax, Nova Scotia: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 May 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2025.

External links

Official website

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[cbc-20170314-1] 1 2 3 4 Ruskin, Brett; Williams, Cassie (14 March 2017). "T-minus 1 year until rocket launch site construction starts in Nova Scotia". CBC News . Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2025.

[2] "About". Maritime Launch Services. Retrieved 15 October 2017. Cyclone 4M will be available for $45M USD per launch.

[yuzhnoye-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Cyclone-4M". Yuzhnoye Design Office. Archived from the original on 2018-07-04. Retrieved 15 October 2017.

[ZakTsyklon4m-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Zak, Anatoly (19 March 2017). "Tsyklon-4M (Cyclone-4M) prepares a move to Canada". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 22 March 2017.

[bw-20221208-5] "Precious Payload Partners With Maritime Launch, Adding Canada's First Commercial Spaceport, Spaceport Nova Scotia, to Launch.ctrl Marketplace". Business Wire (Press release). 8 December 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.

[ZakRD870-6] 1 2 Zak, Anatoly (4 April 2017). "RD-870 could become Ukraine's first booster engine". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 15 October 2017.

[spacenews20150416-7] Selding, Peter B. (16 April 2015). "Brazil Pulling Out of Ukrainian Cyclone-4 Launcher Project". SpaceNews . Retrieved 9 April 2016.

[8] Doucette, Keith (22 November 2021). "Proposed N.S. spaceport announces payload client for 1st rocket launch". CBC News . Retrieved 10 December 2022.

[s2-qual-9] "Cyclone 4M fully integrated upper stage performs successful qualification test" (Press release). Yuzhnoye Design Office and Maritime Launch Services. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.

[10] Doucette, Keith (14 March 2017). "Small Nova Scotia fishing community picked as launch site for rockets". TheStar.com. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 15 October 2017.

[spaceq-20170314-11] Boucher, Marc (14 March 2017). "Exclusive: Maritime Launch Services Selects Nova Scotia Site for Spaceport Over 13 Other Locations". SpaceQ. Retrieved 18 March 2017.

[Canso_Construction_Begins_2022-12] Bamford, Craig (4 August 2023). "Spaceport Nova Scotia First Launch Pad Under Construction". SpaceQ. Calgary: SpaceQ Media Inc. Archived from the original on 24 August 2025. Retrieved 24 August 2025.

[CAN-USA_Tech_Deal_2024-13] Grant, Taryn (2 August 2024). "Canada strikes deal to use U.S. space tech, clearing way for rocket launch pad in N.S." CBC News . Halifax, Nova Scotia: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 May 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2025.

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v t e Ukrainian launch vehicles
Cyclone (Tsyklon)	Tsyklon-1M Tsyklon-2 Tsyklon-3 Tsyklon-4 Cyclone-4M
Zenit	Zenit-2 Zenit-2M Zenit-3SL Zenit-3SLB Zenit-3F
Mayak	Mayak
Dnipro (Dnepr)	Dnipro
International projects	Antares VEGA Skyrora Firefly Aerospace
Space agency

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Eris ^† Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS ^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 6C 7 7A 8 11 11H 12 LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C New Glenn Nuri OS-M1 ^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB Spectrum ^† SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2E
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Blue Whale 1 Ceres-2 Cyclone-4M Deca Eclipse Epsilon S Gravity-2 HANBIT-NANO Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kinetica 2 2H 3 KSLV-III Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 Miura 5 Neutron New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf RFA One SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130 ^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able ^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga ^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I ^† II ^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIA H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D ^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1 ^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan ^† Pilot-2 ^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 2-1v Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna ^† Rocket 3 RS1 ^† Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II ^† X-2 ^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B ^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK ^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1 ^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1 ^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1 ^† 2
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)