S7 Space plans to modernize the Sea Launch floating spaceport after switching to the launches of its reusable rocket from it, Company CEO Sergei Sopov told TASS on Wednesday.

"The spaceport will be modernized for the new carrier rocket," he said.

Today all the equipment on the command vessel and the launching platform has become obsolete, the chief executive said.

"It was developed 20 years ago. The platform’s remaining service life is another 25 years. Within this period, the launches of Zenit rockets that have been ordered and are in the process of production and also of our new carrier can be carried out," he said.

"The later we make the new carrier, the less time will be left for its operation from the Sea Launch platform," he pointed out.

"But, naturally, the spaceport’s service life, like the service life of any complex technical facility, can be considerably extended in case of its major repairs and modernization," the chief executive said.

S7 Space is considering several ways of recovering the first stage of its future reusable rocket after launch.

"On the list of likely options we have a hypersonic parachute capable of withstanding reentry heat, or special wings. We will make up our mind during the design phase as a result of more accurate calculations and research," he said.

In his opinion at this point it looks like a parachute system will be less costly.

"But if this solution is chosen, landing the re-entry stage safely on a small pre-prepared site will be a great problem due to strong side winds," Sopov said.

Non-reusable rockets have become uncompetitive and a private company has no chance to survive on the space launch market without reusable vehicles today, he said. 

"Without it [the reusable carrier], we simply won’t be able to survive on the commercial market. It is not even funny to compete with reusable and cheap offers entering the market with a non-reusable carrier," he said.

In the opinion of S7 Space chief, "a non-reusable rocket is as effective as a non-reusable aircraft."

"Creating a non-reusable carrier means not simply marking time but is a road backwards," Sopov said.

It is not a matter of the method of recovering the spent rocket stage but largely a matter of "its service life, in the first place, the cycles, the repairability and the labor intensity."

"Today all the rocket’s assemblies and systems [in Russia] are non-reusable, i.e. unfit for their repeat use," Sopov said.