Russia Dreams Of having A Moonbase

Destination: the Moon Bob Familiar via Wikimedia

Russian Space Chief: 'We’re Talking About Establishing Permanent Bases' On The Moon -- Popular Science

Yesterday, the heads of the space agencies for Europe, Canada, Russia, India, and Japan met in Washington D.C. (without NASA, which had all hands on deck for the SpaceX launch in Florida). The most interesting topic of conversation? The moon, which seems to be the destination on everyone’s agenda except for NASA. And for Russia, it’s less a destination and more a frontier for colonization.

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My Comment: They are ambitious.

Russia Reveals Their Moon Program

Russia Plans to Launch Lunar Rovers to Moon after 2020. © RIA Novosti. Anton Denisov

Russia Plans To Launch Lunar Rovers To Moon After 2020 -- RIA Novosti

Russia plans to send two lunar rovers to Moon after 2020 and a landing station after 2022 as the first steps to form the future manned lunar base there, the country's Academy of Sciences said in its report on Saturday.

Under the document, obtained by RIA Novosti, core aims of the Russian scientists are to study polar regions of Moon and gas-dust exosphere of the satellite, make a soil samples and find the most comfortable areas for lunar base deployment.

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Update: Russia’s moon re-conquest plan revealed -- RT

My Comment: I wish them the best.

Russia's Space Program Plans Announced (Updated)

Image: NASA

Russia Plans Moon Base, Mars Network by 2030 -- Wired Science

Russia plans to send probes to Jupiter and Venus, land a network of unmanned stations on Mars and ferry Russian cosmonauts to the surface of the Moon — all by 2030. That’s according to a leaked document from the country’s space agency.

The cosmically ambitious plans were submitted to the government by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) this month, according to a report in the Kommersant, Russia’s business-focused daily newspaper.

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More News On Russia's Moon Plans

Space Race 2: Russia 'will send man to the moon by 2030' -- Daily Mail
Russia aims to put a man on the moon by 2030 -- MSNBC/Space.com
Russia plans moon mission by 2030 -- The Age
Russia sets sights on Moon, Mars and beyond -- Sydney Morning Herald
Russia plans man on Moon and Mars landing by 2030 -- Digital Journal
Russia to finally send man to the Moon -- The Telegraph
Man on Moon & Mars landing: Russia space plans unveiled -- RT

Russia Will Finally Send A Man To The Moon

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Jr fulfilled John F. Kennedy’s promise to reach the Moon by the end of the decade, landing there on July 20, 1969, with NASA’s Apollo 11 Photo: Reuters

Russia To Finally Send Man To The Moon -- The Telegraph

Russia will send a team of cosmonauts to the Moon, 60 years after Neil Armstrong’s Apollo mission effectively ended the US-Soviet space race.

A spacecraft will “conduct a demonstrative manned circumlunar test flight with the subsequent landing of cosmonauts on [the Moon’s] surface and their return to Earth” by 2030, according to a leaked strategy document from Russia’s space agency, Roskosmos.

Moscow has periodically announced ambitious plans for space exploration in recent years, but this is the first time a firm deadline has been set for a manned lunar mission.

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My Comment: Better late than never.

Soyuz Launches To Space Station

From The BBC:

A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut has left Earth bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

Lift-off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan occurred at the scheduled time of 0510 (2310 GMT).

Alexander Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka and Scott Kelly are due to reach the orbiting platform on Saturday.

The men will complete a five-month tour of duty aboard the laboratory as part of the Expedition 25 and 26 crews.

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Kazakhstan To Join Russia-Ukraine Space Program

Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev. © RIA Novosti. Grigoriy Vasilenko

From RIA Novosti:

Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia will work together as part of the Cosmotrans space cooperation project, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev said on Thursday.

The project provides for the joint use of Kazakhstan's Baikonur space center.

Kazakhstan and Ukraine signed a space cooperation agreement during Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's recent visit to Ukraine.

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Soyuz Landing: An Undignified Way To Come Home

From ABC News:

Ooof. This is why NASA designed the space shuttle to land like a plane.

Two space station crew members, American commander Jeff Williams and Russian flight engineer Maxim Suraev, landed their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft in three feet of snow this morning on the steppes of Kazakhstan, finishing a five-and-a-half-month stay in orbit.

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Russian Space Program Facing Same Issues as NASA

From Daily Tech:

Russian space program must shift gears and begin to seriously think about the coming years
The U.S. space program reportedly isn't the only one that has issues related to research and development, leading to a possible shake up among space nations over the next two-to-three years.

Similar to the current problem plaguing NASA, the Russian space program also has an aging spacecraft, the Soyuz spacecraft, with no specific details of a new next-generation shuttle on the horizon. The Soyuz already is used to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), but will be unable to reach Mars or any other planets at this current stage.

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Studying A Legend: K.E. Tsiolkovskii, Grandfather of Soviet Rocketry

From The Space Review:

Anyone who has studied the history of the space age has come across the name Konstantin Tsiolkovskii (1857–1935), often under the more common alternative spelling Tsiolkovsky. He is generally credited with the development of the basic mathematical formulae for space travel. Other than that, he is often described as the man who after the revolution inspired a small group of space enthusiasts, including Glushko and Korolev, to begin serious work on rocket technology. The details of his life, as James Andrews explains in his new study of the man, are more complex and far more interesting than the legend.

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Russia Becomes The World's Taxicab To Space

Photo: Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberté flashes a V-sign after he returned Oct. 11 from a trip to space as a tourist in a Russian Soyuz capsule. Sergei Remezoz/ Reuters

From Christian Science Monitor:

Though its program is nothing like it once was, the country uses its fleet of rockets to ferry tourists and satellites into orbit.

Moscow - For better or mirth, it has become one of those indelible images from space: Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberté floating around the International Space Station wearing a red clown nose.

The stunt earlier this month by the founder of Cirque du Soleil, who once performed as a fire breather, was intended to provide a moment of levity for his wife and children during a video linkup. But it also served a more serious purpose: to draw attention to the crusade for which he paid $35 million to journey into orbit – the need for clean water on Earth.

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Russians To Ride A Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft To Mars

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, center, visits a space communications facility Wednesday in Medvezhye Ozera with Minister of Telecommunications Igor Shchyogolev at left. Medvedev urged his government to find resources for building a prospective nuclear-powered spaceship. (Vladimir Rodionov, RIA Novosti, Presidential Press Service/AP)

From Christian Science Monitor:

President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will spend $600 million on a nuclear-powered spacecraft to take men to Mars, and beyond. Is it safe?

MOSCOW – A nuclear-powered spaceship that can carry passengers to Mars and beyond may sound like science fiction.

But Russian engineers say they have a breakthrough design for such a craft, which could leapfrog them way ahead in the international race to build a manned spacecraft that can cover vast interplanetary distances.

They claim they’ll be ready to build one as early as 2012.

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Russian Space Agency Plan To Build NUCLEAR Space Rocket

The Russian Space Agency is using 40-year-old booster rockets to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. Now they plan to go nuclear

From The Daily Mail:

Russia's space agency is planning to build a new spaceship with a nuclear engine, its chief announced yesterday.

Anatoly Perminov told a government meeting that the preliminary design could be ready by 2012 and would take nine years and cost £363million to build.

'The implementation of this project will allow us to reach a new technological level surpassing foreign developments,' Mr Perminov told a meeting discussing space technologies.

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Russia Mulls Rocket Power 'First'

The future Russian capsule could land on a bright rocket plume

The BBC:

Russia's next-generation manned space vehicle might be equipped with thrusters to perform a precision landing on its return to Earth.

Engineers are considering a rocket-powered landing system for the successor to Russia's Soyuz spacecraft.

If accepted, it would be the first time in history that a manned vehicle relied solely on rocket engines for touchdown.

Previous manned missions have landed on Earth using a parachute or, in the case of space shuttles, a pair of wings.

RKK Energia, Russia's prime developer of manned spacecraft, had to examine the feasibility of the rocket-powered landing as a result of conflicting requirements for the project set by the Russian government.

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