The developer of Russia's Proton space launchers, the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, plans to launch into orbit at least four Proton rockets carrying various payloads by the end of 2025, Khrunichev Center Director General Alexey Varochko has said in an interview with Sputnik.
"As of today, we plan to carry out at least four federal and commercial launches of Proton-M launch vehicles by the end of 2025," Varochko said.
According to the agreements between Russia and Kazakhstan, it was planned to stop launching Proton rockets after 2025 and, consequently, to stop their production. However, Varochko said the Khrunichev Center and Russian state space corporation Roscosmos have sent a proposal to Kazakh partners to continue launches of Proton rockets from the Baikonur Cosmodrome after 2025.
"Proposals from the Khrunichev Center and the Roscosmos state corporation have been prepared and sent to our Kazakh colleagues. At the moment, the process of finding ways to implement this issue is underway, including within the framework of the Intergovernmental Commission on the Baikonur Complex," Varochko said.
He said ten Proton-M launchers are now in various degrees of readiness, adding that some of them would be used to implement Russia's federal space program, and some of them would be used to fulfill obligations on commercial launches.
The director general added that some of the rockets remained unused due to the geopolitical situation and the refusal of some potential customers to further use launch services on these rockets.
"Therefore, the Khrunichev Center, together with Roscosmos, is working on options for payloads for remaining launch vehicles, both in the domestic and foreign markets," Varochko added.