Following the successful operational deployment of both the Turkestan team's Aruana and the Persia team's Mıtra rockets, the two teams are now collaborating on a heavier lift vehicle.  Given the organisational nature of SpaceOrg, it is probably not surprising that a multitude of rumours have been flying around as to the exact specifications of the rocket.  The rumour mill appears to have got the name right – the new rocket is now officially the Şolpan ("Venus") – but actual details have been wildly divergent, including stories in the popular press solemnly declaring that the advanced rocket is a single-stage-to-orbit 100 arçın (almost 70m) tall able to lift payloads in excess of 5 batpan (2 metric tons).

Partially in order to stop public expectations running ahead of actual capability and thus raising the likelihood of mass disappointment, the development team recently released some preliminary data on the Şolpan advanced rocket.

The released data, including images, seem to show that Şolpan is a Mıtra core stage and boosters with a second stage consisting of the cut-down first stage of an Aruana.  The team have made it clear that the rocket itself is still in development and testing, and actual performance details are still conjectural.

Height:                            43 arçın 4 süyüm (30.59m)
Diameter (core stages):   13 süyüm (1.816m)
Diameter (booster):         6 süyüm 3 iliş (85.5cm)
Propellants:                     N-stoff/B-stoff (core stages), K-stoff (boosters)*
Stages:                            2, plus 2-6 solid-fuel boosters
Lifting capacity:              Not released; presumably exceeds the capacity of both Aruana and Mıtra

*Propellants: IB's rocket engineers use a German-derived naming system for the various available rocket fuels and oxidisers.  The N-stoff/B-stoff combination is Nitrogen Tetroxide and Hydrazine, while K-stoff is the solid propellant Methylchloroformate.

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