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Russian rocket maker mulls cooperation with Kazakhstan, including on Proton launches

According to the official, the possibility of using Protons after 2025 may be considered only if both Russia and Kazakhstan give their consent

PATRIOT PARK /Moscow Region/, August 16. /TASS/. The Khrunichev Center (part of the state-run space corporation Roscosmos) is actively working on future cooperation with the Kazakh side, including with regard to the use of the Proton carrier rocket, the center’s CEO Alexey Varochko told TASS.

"The Khrunichev Center is actively working on various scenarios of mutually beneficial cooperation with the Kazakh side, including those involving the Proton carrier rocket," Varochko said.

According to the official, the possibility of using Protons after 2025 may be considered only if both Russia and Kazakhstan give their consent.

Proton is a disposable three-stage heavy rocket. It is 56.2-meter high and the maximum diameter is 7.4 meters. The blastoff weight is close to 705 tons and the lifting capacity is 23.7 tons.

On June 22, 2018, then-Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin announced the closure of the Proton project. On August 22 that year, Rogozin said at the Army international arms show that the operation of Proton-M carrier rockets would be completed in 2025. Khrunichev Center CEO Varochko unveiled plans last year to complete the production of Proton launch vehicles in 2023. He said that Russia would carry out subsequent launches of heavy spacecraft with the help of more environmentally-friendly Angara carrier rockets that used propellant based on kerosene compared to the toxic heptyl fuel used by Proton-M launch vehicles.

In April, Varochko told TASS in an interview that the proposals by the Khrunichev Center on resolving the issue of using all the manufactured Proton rockets were being considered jointly with the Kazakh side.

The Army-2023 International Military-Technical Forum is being held at the Patriot Congress and Exhibition Center, the Alabino training ground and the Kubinka airfield outside Moscow on August 14-20. The event brings together around 1,500 leading Russian defense enterprises, as well as 85 foreign companies and organizations from seven countries. The event was organized by the Russian Defense Ministry. TASS is the event’s strategic media partner.

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