American company Astra will develop a new single-use rocket Rocket 4.0 with increased, compared with the carrier Rocket 3.3, payload capacity, SpaceNews reported.

The publication notes that the Rocket 4.0 will be able to deliver up to 300 kilograms of cargo to low-Earth orbit and up to 200 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit at a "base price" of $3.95 million. The plan is to possibly use two Firefly Aerospace Reaver propulsion units as the rocket's first stage engines.

The publication says that the number of personnel involved in launching Rocket 3.3, which launches just a few CubeSat satellites at a time, has now been reduced from 21 to eight. In the case of Rocket 4.0, that number is planned to be reduced even further. A test launch of the new rocket is scheduled for the fourth quarter.