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New generation Amur-LNG rocket to be reused 50-100 times — Roscosmos CEO

Yury Borisov noted that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was used no more than ten times

KALUGA, April 15. /TASS/. Russia's future reusable Amur-SPG rocket will be reused several times more than SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Roscosmos CEO Yury Borisov has said.

"Whereas the Falcon 9 rocket, as a rule, is used no more than ten times, the first LNG-oxygen powered stage can be used at least 50 times, and maybe even more - 100 times," Borisov said at a lecture for cadets and students at the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics in Kaluga.

Roscosmos and RSC Progress signed a contract in October 2020 to develop a preliminary design of a space rocket complex for Russia’s first reusable methane-powered rocket Amur. The rocket having a reusable first stage will be launched from the Vostochny spaceport in the Amur Region. On March 10, 2023, Roscosmos announced that it would keep working on the reusable methane-powered Amur-LNG launch vehicle. It hopes to be through with finalizing the technical design by the end of this year.

Nikolay Nestechuk, the CEO of the Center for the Operation of Ground Space Infrastructure Facilities (TsENKI, part of Roscosmos), told TASS that the technical design of the Amur-LNG launch complex was expected to be completed in November. It may be located next to the Angara launch pad.

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