Kamis, 24 Mei 2012

The new space race heats up: Russia plans 'permanent' bases on moon

The new space race heats up: Russia plans 'permanent' bases on moon

  • Russia has said it aims to put man on moon by 2030
  • 'Permanent bases', rather than simply repeating previous missions

By Rob Waugh

PUBLISHED: 04:40 EST, 24 May 2012 | UPDATED: 08:45 EST, 24 May 2012


The Russian space agency Roscosmos is planning to travel to the moon - and stay there.

'We're not talking about repeating what mankind achieved 40 years ago,' said Vladimir Popovkin, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos. 'We're talking about establishing permanent bases.'

Russian Soyuz TMA-17 rocket: The Russian space agency announced new plans to build 'permanent' bases on the moon

Russian Soyuz TMA-17 rocket: The Russian space agency announced new plans to build 'permanent' bases on the moon

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the Moon - but in the 'new' space race, Russia could be the leaders

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, lunar module pilot, walks on the surface of the Moon - but in the 'new' space race, Russia could be the leaders

Space race reborn

Space race reborn: The Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule, flown with the cosmonaut-mannequin Ivan Ivanovich on March 25, 1961, as the final test mission prior to Yuri Gagarin's first manned space flight

Roscosmos has already said that it aims to put a man on the moon by 2030.

The mission was revealed at the Global Space Exploration Conference - an international space conference at which neither America or China was present.

The Japanese space agency Jaxa also revealed that it was planning manned moon missions.

We are looking at the Moon as our next target for human exploration,” said Yuichi Yamaura, an associate executive director at JAXA.

An official statement from the conference said, 'The International Space Station has h elped us learn a lot more about humans in space but we still have more to learn. Will private space entities eventually turn to a settlement and colonisation model going forward, and will this open up space settlement and colonisations in ways that were not thought of in previous decades?'

'We have produced and flown more hardware over the last 30 years than we will need for Mars, although the necessary technologies aren’t necessarily the same.  The key to success is austere programs that are properly led and focused.'

Roscosmos has had a rocky history so far, often announcing ambitious plans but not always succeeding at execution. In January, a faulty launch saw the country's Mars probe, the Fobos Grunt, crash down to Earth following an unstable two-month orbit.

Major Yuri Gagarin in his space suit. It was the Soviet Union's own giant leap for mankind _ one that would spur a humiliated America to race for the moon

Major Yuri Gagarin in his space suit. It was the Soviet Union's own giant leap for mankind _ one that would spur a humiliated America to race for the moon

Just last week, reports escaped from the agency that the head, Vladimir Popovkin, has been suffered head injuries following a fight in the office.

Russia and the U.S. fought neck-and-neck in the 60s, but Russia threw in the towel when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin reached the stars.

They closed down their moon programmes, but re-entered space in the spirit of international co-operation, and currently provides launches to and from the International Space Station.

But prime minister Vladimir Putin said last year that 'Russia should not limit itself to the role of an international space ferryman'.


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so what if they want to use its resources. it is there for the taking. it is a dead world. so no environmental disasters on animal habitats.

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Its been near on 50 years since Man walked on the Moon....we should be on Mars in full force by now!

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I'm all for dreaming big, but this is bluster for the Russians. They don't have the money for something like this. The Japanese, maybe, but more than likely they will partner w/a another country.

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@ Ryan on the move, Coventry: Natural resources are useful. This is what makes them natural resources. When human beings started to use flint tools, were they"raping" the world's flint resources? Don't be such an idiot! The moon is just a very large rock with no cuddly (or non-cuddly) wildlife to disturb or harm. There are no ethical problems whatsoever as far as I can see.

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Good luck, but I feel a Moon base will only happen in a joint international effort, like the space station. Nobody has the money to commit to this by themselves. Russia's rocket technology hasn't taken many steps forward since Korolev and Glushko in the cold war. I would love to see it, but I think it'll remain a dream for any one nation for the foreseeable future.

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"We are looking at the moon as our next target for human exploration" What they really mean is " we are looking at the moon to rape it of its natural resources".

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Not surprised. The West is so busy saving the world from global warming that soon we will all be speaking Japanese. There's not one jot of interest in real science. All we get is fines to force us to believe in pseudo-science.

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Good luck to them.

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