Russian Progress Center Hiding Details Of New Methane-Powered Rocket Development

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2020) The Russian SRC (space rocket center) Progress has not been releasing much detail on the new Russian carrier rocket powered by liquefied natural gas (methane) in order to protect the developers, SRC Progress General Director Dmitry Baranov told Sputnik.

Earlier this month, a 407 million-ruble ($5.2 million) contract was signed on the development of a rough design of the Amur-SPG medium-class rocket.

"This information has received a wide response in the media, there are discussions of this project on forums, we have gotten acquainted with various opinions. In this regard, in order to maintain the effective rhythm of the work of the Progress SRC specialists, we have decided not to comment on the creation of the Amur-SPG launch vehicle until the rough design is finished," Baranov told Sputnik.

Earlier this week, the SRC Progress head told Sputnik that the center was working on a preliminary design of the Amur-SPG carrier rocket.

The new Amur-SPG rocket will have a first stage that could be reused up to ten times. In the reusable mode, the rocket will be able to launch 9.5 tonnes (metric tons) of cargo into low-Earth orbit from Russia's Vostochny spaceport.