Russia and France will pool their efforts to build cutting-edge reusable space rockets, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
“Russian and French engineers are already working in this direction under Project Ural,” Putin told a news conference after a meeting of the Russian-French cooperation commission.
The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos and its French counterpart, Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), are expected to work out a roadmap for bilateral space cooperation.
The 15-year Ural program to build advanced reusable carrier rockets was adopted in 2005.
CNES Director Yannick d’Escatha has said Project Ural is part of a new rocket launch system that will replace existing carriers.
The project is still at the conceptual stage as the type of rocket engine – hydrogen, kerosene or methane fueled – has yet to be determined.
It was earlier reported that the future Ural rocket will be a reusable one, fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid methane, and should supersede the Russian Soyuz and French Ariane carriers some time in 2020-30.