Russia could create 2nd reusable stage for its carrier rockets - Roscosmos CEO

MOSCOW. April 13 (Interfax) - Russia needs to implement reusable second stage technology for promising carrier rockets, Roscosmos chief executive Dmitry Bakanov said on Monday.

"We simply must implement reusable first, perhaps even second, stage technology," Bakanov said on Vesti FM radio station.

The technology has considerably altered the market, he said. "Practically all actors, not just the United States and China, are testing this technology. We have no choice, or else we will be lagging economically, because everyone is now calculating the cost of putting a kilogram of payload into low orbit," Bakanov said.

Russia is working on a first reusable stage project called Amur, he said. "The technical specifications for this carrier rocket was approved last fall. The contract for its development was already signed as part of a new National project this year," Bakanov said.

A test-run of the methane engine for the Amur-SPG rocket had already been completed, he said.

"Landing fields for testing this technology have been chosen. These are Nizhnyaya Salda, in the Sverdlovsk region, at a NIIMash facility," Bakanov said.

On April 1, he said a demonstrator of the Amur-SPG's first reusable stage will be unveiled within the next one and a half to two years.

On April 2, 2024, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said the rocket's first launch was scheduled for 2030.