Garry Popov, developer of electric rocket engines, dies at 91
In short
Garry Alekseevich Popov, described by Russian outlets as an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the creator of a new generation of electric propulsion engines for spacecraft, has died. TASS said he was 91; RBC, citing the Roscosmos press service, said he died in his 92nd year of life. No cause or place of death was given in the reports, which were published within about 50 minutes of one another on 4 October.
Why it matters
Popov is identified by the outlets as the creator of a new generation of electric propulsion engines, a category of hardware used on spacecraft, and RBC attributes that description to the Roscosmos press service. The documents give no further detail on his role, his designs or their use, so the significance of the loss to the Russian space programme cannot be assessed from them. Coverage was confined to short death notices.
Key facts
- Garry Alekseevich Popov died at the age of 91, TASS reported. [ 1 ]
- RBC, citing the Roscosmos press service, said he died in his 92nd year of life. [ 2 ]
- RBC identified him as an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a doctor of technical sciences. [ 2 ]
- TASS described him as a developer of electric motors for space rockets. [ 1 ]
- RBC and RIA Novosti described him as the creator of a new generation of electric propulsion engines (ЭРД). [ 2 , 3 ]
- RIA Novosti reported his death in a headline without a summary text. [ 3 ]
Confirmed by several sources
Still unclear
- The cause of death. None of the three reports states a cause.
- The place of death. No report names a city or location.
- The specific engines or designs Popov worked on. The outlets describe his work only in general terms — “electric motors for space rockets” (TASS) and “a new generation of electric propulsion engines” (RBC) — without naming a design, programme or date.
- His institutional affiliation beyond the academy. Only RBC mentions membership of the Russian Academy of Sciences; no employer, institute or design bureau is named in any report.