MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd May, 2019) Russian space agency Roscosmos is planning to carry out test flights of a modernized Fregat upper stage equipped with the new control system during the upcoming launch of the Soyuz-2 carrier rocket launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, materials published on the government procurement website showed on Thursday.
"The creation of the Soyuz-2 space rocket system at the Vostochny Cosmodrome by building a prototype of an upper stage for carrying out test flights of the Fregat upper stage at the Vostochny Cosmodrome," the materials read.
The project is estimated at 672 million rubles ($10.4 million) and it is scheduled to be completed by November 30, 2020.
A source in the industry has told Sputnik that the modernized Fregat upper stage equipped with the new control system is planned to be tested as part of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket launch with the Kondor earth imaging satellite in 2021.
Another source has told Sputnik that the satellite would be launched in 2021 atop that Soyuz-2.1a rocket whose stages will be equipped with engines using the new naphthyl fuel.
