BLAGOVESHCHENSK. Aug 9 (Interfax) - Russia may put the first satellite in orbit using a naphthyl-fueled rocket in 2020, an informed source told Interfax.
"The technology will be tested for the first time at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in November 2020: a Kondor-FKA1 radar satellite will be put into orbit by a Soyuz-2.1a rocket running on naphthyl instead of kerosene," the source said.
The effort to use naphthyl as a Soyuz-2 fuel began at Vostochny over the winter, he said.
There are plans to replace kerosene with naphthyl in all Soyuz-2 missions launching from Vostochny, the source said.
The transition to the new fuel is prompted by the depletion of a field in Kuban that provides oil used to make rocket-fuel grade kerosene. Kerosene is currently produced by mixing components extracted from various wells. An expensive refining process is required to make the brand RG-1.
Naphthyl is less sensitive to oil quality and can be produced from practically any crude brand, the source said.