Gazprom, together with Roscosmos, is developing the production of ultra-pure liquefied natural gas for the reusable Amur-LNG rocket. The importance of the project goes beyond the usual supply of rocket fuel: Russia is creating its own infrastructure for a methane-fueled launch vehicle at a time when SpaceX's reusable rockets have already turned first-stage reuse into a working technology.
Amur-LNG is being designed with a reusable first stage — following the same general concept of rocket reuse that has already become SpaceX's working practice with Falcon 9. But the Russian project relies on a different fuel scheme: instead of kerosene, the launch vehicle is to use liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen.
Therefore, Amur requires solving a problem that conventional expendable rockets do not have: providing a reusable launch vehicle with stable fuel of the required quality. This is what Gazprom is currently working on with Roscosmos — the company is developing the production of high-purity LNG, which is planned to be used for fueling the future rocket.
For Gazprom, the task begins with obtaining fuel of the required quality. According to Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Head of the company, the Amur Gas Processing Plant is capable of producing liquefied helium with a purity of 99.9999%, and now, together with Roscosmos, the production of LNG of comparable high purity for a methane rocket is being developed.
Amur-LNG itself is still under development. RKTs Progress has completed the design of the medium-class rocket; the first launch from Vostochny is scheduled for 2031. The state contract for the preliminary design of the complex was concluded back in 2020, and the technical design provides for a two-stage rocket with a reusable first stage.