The first Russian reusable carrier rocket will cost 70 billion rubles

2020

The first Russian reusable carrier rocket will cost 70 billion rubles

As it became known on October 5, 2020, Roskosmos will spend about 70 billion rubles for creation of the first Russian reusable carrier rocket "Amur".

As the work purpose — to create an effective commercial product, in the project is put development at a stage of outline design of the unrolled business plan — TASS with reference to the chief executive of Roskosmos according to perspective programs and science reports Alexander Bloshenko.

According to him, the state corporation for the first time projects a rocket "under the set cost", and the minimum price of start-up of Amur in six years, by data from the technical project, will be from $22 million to $35 million.

Development of the first Russian reusable carrier rocket will cost 70 billion rubles

The planned height of Amur will reach 55 m, and diameter — 4.1 m. Diameter of the fairing of the second step with payload will be increased up to 5.1 m that it was in the future possible to launch perspective spacecrafts. The starting weight of Amur will reach 360 t. The liquefied methane and oxygen will become fuel environmentally friendly. The first start of Amur in 2026 will be with payload at once. Construction of a rocket and automatic equipment promise to become unprecedentedly reliable in the industry as "Kalashnikov".

In material of TASS it is specified that by the beginning of October, 2020 a number of the large companies develops rockets with the methane engine. Methane is cheap fuel, its processing and use is well mastered by other industries that allows to use already ready-made infrastructure solutions.

Before the only rocket with a reusable first step which is used for commercial starts is Falcon 9 of SpaceX company (and also the superheavy missile of Falcon Heavy created on its base). The head of SpaceX Elon Musk greeted creation of a new rocket, having called it at a slow pace in the right direction, but noted that by 2026 it is necessary to create completely reusable rocket which will allow to cut down even more expenses on a payload output to an orbit.^[1]

Roskosmos for the first time allowed private company to tender on creation of a rocket

On September 22, 2020 it became known that Roskosmos for the first time allowed private company to tender on creation of a rocket. It is about Kosmokurs company which applied for creation of the project of the carrier rocket "Amur LNG".

"КосмоКурс" competed with Khrunichev's Center and the Progress space-rocket center (SRC) which as a result became the winner of the tender, though offered twice more opponent. RBC with reference to documents on the website of state procurements reports about it.

"КосмоКурс" specializes in space tourism and development of the missile and space equipment, writes the edition. The company has a license of Roskosmos for space activity: she received it earlier when she announced plans to create the spaceport near Nizhny Novgorod.

Roskosmos for the first time allowed private company to tender on creation of a rocket

The private company was ready to prepare the outline sketch of a methane rocket for 203 million rubles while other participants of tender offered 407 million – this amount as maximum was specified by Roskosmos in the tender documentation. The outline sketch of the Amur LNG rocket is going to be created by the end of 2020.

According to technical specifications, the two-level carrier rocket "Amur LNG" will be executed according to the "tandem" scheme with a reusable first step. At the same time the rocket can be used one-time in special execution "with removal of elements of reusability". In reusable option of execution "Amur LNG" will be capable to put to a low earth orbit not less than 9.5 tons of payload, in one-time — not less than 12 tons.

As note Vedomosti, "Kosmokurs" is expected did not win in tender, but received a portion of the deserved attention of media as really for the first time completely private company – in fact, a startup – participated in the similar tender.

Before only once the private company participated in creation of the equipment for Roskosmos: the Dauria enterprise manufactured two small satellites which did not start working after going into orbit, RIA Novosti added.^[2]

Space

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