Category Archives: Moon Colonization

Published time: May 09, 2014 00:17

Reuters / Jim Urquhart

We are going to the Moon forever, the Russian Deputy PM said in April, and it was not just empty words. It appears Russia does plan to colonize the Moon by 2030 and the first stage of the ambitious project may start as soon as two years from now.

That is according to a leaked draft document that Izvestia newspaper claims to have obtained. It was prepared by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Roscosmos federal space agency, Moscow State University and a number of space research institutes.

Moon is a space object of the future reclamation by Earth civilization, and in XXI century there might be a geopolitical competition for lunar natural resources, the authors of the draft project state in the opening line.

This is why it is important to focus on creating an arsenal of necessary means in advance, they stress.

The Moon is not an intermediate point in the race, Russias Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin who is in charge of space and defence industries said back in April. This process has the beginning, but has no end. We are going to the moon forever.

The Concept of Russian Lunar Program, as it is titled according to the paper, outlines a three-step plan toward manning the moon.

The first stage is planned to start in 2016 and last until 2025. This is when Russia, should everything go well, will send four automated rovers to the moon Luna-25, Luna-26, Luna-27 and Luna-28.

As the document states, earlier Soviet and American lunar expeditions established that the Moon contains aluminum, iron, titan, and many other useful elements. Scientist think it will be possible to mine some of the Moon's natural resources for terrestrial use.

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Russia will begin Moon colonization in 2030 - draft space ...

The idea of mining asteroids is definitely in vogue. In the past few years commercial space advocates have been pursuing new private-sector space business activities. Profiting from orbital operations is not a new idea. Commercial space activities started in the early 1960s, with the launch of the first geosynchronous communications satellites.

Many thought these early commercial space ventures were just the beginning of a vast array of other commercially viable space applications. Literally hundreds, if not thousands, of potentially profitable concepts have been tested in the financial markets, but few have gotten beyond the drawing board.

Today, some 50 years after the first commercial space success, we can point to only a few sustained and successful private sector space operations. Surprisingly, geostationary communications satellite services remain as the largest commercial benefactor of the natural space environment.

Today, we appear to be on the threshold of a new generation of space adventurers. Virgin Galactic and other entrepreneurs may soon regularly fly tourists on suborbital flights to the vacuum of space for the several-minute-thrill of being in "zero-G" free-fall. Others aspire to send vacationers into low-earth-orbit. Still others hope to soon send humans on a "free-return" trip to Mars.

As recently as last Friday, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece on, "Mining Asteroids and Exploiting the New Space Economy" in which Dean Larson, of the Planetary Society, argues for the passage of the American Space Technology for Exploring Resource Opportunities In Deep Space (Asteroids) Act. This bill, introduced in the House last month by Bill Posey and Derek Kilmer, applies only to asteroids and assigns the ownership of mined resources to "the entity that obtained such resources."

The Asteroids Act also protects the exploiting company's operations from "harmful interference." From a legal point of view, ownership and protection from interference are essential in order to realistically pursue mining anywhere, including outer space.

As it turns out, there already is a legal foundation for how we use outer space. Article I of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty says, "The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind."

It further addresses the freedom of exploration and use of space, "Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be free for exploration and use by all States without discrimination of any kind, on a basis of equality and in accordance with international law, and there shall be free access to all areas of celestial bodies."

Article VI addresses government oversight: "The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty." One might conclude that the Asteroids Act represents the fulfillment of the 1967 treaty obligation to supervise asteroid entrepreneurs.

All this is well and good. Discussions regarding the legal aspects of asteroid mining are obviously necessary in order to clear the way for commercial mining activities. Most will agree that asteroids have some value, they are plentiful, and they are free of any financial encumbrances.

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Regulating Asteroid Mining

"Lunar outpost" redirects here. For NASA's former plan to construct an outpost between 2019 and 2024, see Lunar outpost (NASA).

The colonization of the Moon is the proposed establishment of permanent human communities or robot industries[1] on the Moon.

Recent indication that water might be present in noteworthy quantities at the lunar poles has renewed interest in the Moon. Polar colonies could also avoid the problem of long lunar nights about 354 hours,[2] a little more than two weeks and take advantage of the sun continuously, at least during the local summer (there is no data for the winter yet).[3]

Permanent human habitation on a planetary body other than the Earth is one of science fiction's most prevalent themes. As technology has advanced, and concerns about the future of humanity on Earth have increased, the argument that space colonization is an achievable and worthwhile goal has gained momentum.[4][5] Because of its proximity to Earth, the Moon has been seen as the most obvious natural expansion after Earth.

The notion of siting a colony on the Moon originated before the Space Age. In 1638 Bishop John Wilkins wrote ADiscourse Concerning a New World and Another Planet, in which he predicted a human colony on the Moon.[6]Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (18571935), among others, also suggested such a step.[7] From the 1950s onwards, a number of concepts and designs have been suggested by scientists, engineers and others.

In 1954, science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke proposed a lunar base of inflatable modules covered in lunar dust for insulation.[8] A spaceship, assembled in low Earth orbit, would launch to the Moon, and astronauts would set up the igloo-like modules and an inflatable radio mast. Subsequent steps would include the establishment of a larger, permanent dome; an algae-based air purifier; a nuclear reactor for the provision of power; and electromagnetic cannons to launch cargo and fuel to interplanetary vessels in space.

In 1959, micrometeoroid shield placed above the base.

Project Horizon was a 1959 study regarding the United States Army's plan to establish a fort on the Moon by 1967.[10]Heinz-Hermann Koelle, a German rocket engineer of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) led the Project Horizon study. The first landing would be carried out by two "soldier-astronauts" in 1965 and more construction workers would soon follow. Through numerous launches (61SaturnI and 88 SaturnII), 245 tons of cargo would be transported to the outpost by 1966.

Lunex Project was a US Air Force plan for a manned lunar landing prior to the Apollo Program in 1961. It envisaged a 21-airman underground Air Force base on the Moon by 1968 at a total cost of $7.5 billion.

In 1962, solar panels, and would also overcome the problems with the long Lunar nights. For the life support system, an algae-based gas exchanger was proposed.

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COLONIZATION OF THE MOON - Articles On Moon Colonization ...

If you want to see the price of our dysfunctional government, just look up up toward the International Space Station.

It once was a symbol of international cooperation but it is now caught in a web of intrigue that threatens its existence. The United States, having shut down the space shuttle, the only craft it had capable of bringing astronauts to and from the space station, is now at the mercy of Russia, which is taking advantage of that situation.

We have a single seat on each flight of a Russian craft at a cost of $71 million per trip. Only one-third of the crew at the station at any given time is American, even though the U.S. paid for most of the stations $140 million price tag.

There is plenty of blame to spread around. President George W. Bush got things started when he decided in 2004 that NASAs mission should be a return to the moon and space colonization. That plan retired the shuttle in favor of building deep space rockets.

But that left a gap between the end of the shuttle program and the launch of new craft capable of carrying people into space.

When Barack Obama became president he decided we needed a quicker way for ferry astronauts to the station and left it up to commercial interests to figure out how to do it.

Congress balked and underfunded the commercial program, which means the first flight will be in 2017, not 2015 as Obama envisioned. Not the best solution but a workable plan until Russia annexed Crimea.

In the tit-for-tat that followed, the Russians threatened to pull the plug on the Space Station by 2020. That would seem to make it even more urgent to get these commercial flights flights that Stennis Space Center could play a big role in as soon as possible.

We shouldnt have to rely on Russia, an unreliable partner at best and a country that doesnt seem to be seeing us as much of an ally in its ambitions.

And we shouldnt be playing politics with an investment of more than $100 billion.

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Better space plan needed

S

Everyone feels something when they're in a really good starry place a really good starry place on a really good starry night and they look up and see this:

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Some people stick with the traditional, feeling struck by the epic beauty or blown away by the insane scale of the universe. Personally, I go for the old "existential meltdown followed by acting weird for the next half hour." But everyone feels something.

Physicist Enrico Fermi felt something too"Where is everybody?"

A really starry sky seems vastbut all we're looking at is our very local neighborhood. On the very best nights, we can see up to about 2,500 stars (roughly one hundred-millionth of the stars in our galaxy), and almost all of them are less than 1,000 light years away from us (or 1% of the diameter of the Milky Way). So what we're really looking at is this:

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When confronted with the topic of stars and galaxies, a question that tantalizes most humans is, "Is there other intelligent life out there?" Let's put some numbers to it (if you don't like numbers, just read the bold)

As many stars as there are in our galaxy (100 400 billion), there are roughly an equal number of galaxies in the observable universeso for every star in the colossal Milky Way, there's a whole galaxy out there. All together, that comes out to the typically quoted range of between 10^22 and 10^24 total stars in the universe, which means that for every grain of sand on Earth, there are 10,000 stars out there.

The science world isn't in total agreement about what percentage of those stars are "sun-like" (similar to our sun in size, temperature, and luminosity)opinions typically range from 5% to 20%. Going with the most conservative side of that (5%), and the lower end for the number of total stars (10^22), gives us 500 quintillion, or 500 billion billion sun-like stars.

Read more:
The Fermi Paradox: Where the Hell Are the Other Earths?

Russia #39;s Plans to Colonize Moon
A plan put together by Moscow State University, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Russian Federal Space Agency says that moon colonization should become the country #39;s top priority. ...

By: GeoBeats News

Link:
Russia's Plans to Colonize Moon - Video

The future of United States space travel will involve significant governmental cooperation with private industry, according to a panel of spaceflight experts.

Government contracts with aerospace firms have changed the face of spaceflight in the United States. NASA officials hope to start using privately built spaceships to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station by 2017, and two companies (SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp.) already fly robotic vessels full of supplies to the orbiting outpost.

"This is no longer your grandfather's space program," Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, said during a panel he moderated today (May 14). "Increasingly, we are seeing commercial firms launch satellites, supply the International Space Station or even offer the prospect of space tourism in the near future." [The Rockets and Spaceships of SpaceX (Photo Gallery)]

Private and public space

SpaceX engineers have been working for years to develop a fully and rapidly reusable rocket stage. The spaceflight firm recently soft-landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocketin the ocean after launching it to space. But Antonio Elias, the executive vice president and chief technical officer at Orbital Sciences, thinks that developing reusable rockets might not be the best use of resources without plenty of launches to support it.

"If the absolute elasticity of demand for launch and price is sufficiently high and if SpaceX is able to go to 50 or 60 flights a year, their efforts in reusability will pay off handsomely," Elias said during the Brookings Institute panel discussion. "But if it falls short of 50 to 60 a year, it's going to be wasted money."

3D printing also holds a lot of potential for future spaceflight ventures, according to Adam Harris, vice president of government sales at SpaceX. Recently, SpaceX tested a 3D-printed metal rocket nozzle at the firm's test stand in Texas.

"3D printing is a major advancement that SpaceX is trying to use to lower the cost of building, lower the cost of research and development," Harris said. "This is an advanced way of doing 3D printing. It's with metal and it's with better metals. A lot of the 3D printing technology relies on plastics and other ways of doing it."

Future science

On the scientific side of the coin, Mars should be an exploration goal for scientists in the future, said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has confirmed that the Red Planet could have been habitable in the distant past, and further study is needed to understand whether life did exist on Mars.

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Public-Private Partnerships Key to US Spaceflight Future, Experts Say

MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti) Russia has drafted a program for colonization of the moon, and plans to send the first expeditions to build a permanent lunar base in 2030, the Russian Izvestia daily said Thursday, citing an official document.

"The moon is a space object for the future exploration by terrestrial civilization, and a geopolitical competition for the Moon's natural resources may begin in the 21st century," said a report on a potential lunar program prepared by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Roscosmos space agency and Moscow State University.

The program aims to build an inhabited moon base and testing ground by the middle of the century, which would allow mineral extraction on Earth's only natural satellite.

The project calls on developing a range of long-distance space technology to ensure the country can explore the moon independently from foreign partners. Earlier proposals for lunar exploration focused on strong international cooperation, as it was believed no single country could afford interplanetary projects on its own.

Russia will plan separate three- or four-year-long lunar projects for the next 16 years, according to the plan. The first four will take place between 2016 and 2025 and will focus on defining the physical and chemical composition of the moons south pole, where the future base will be sited. Space roundtrips are scheduled for 2028-30, and manned lunar exploration for 2030-40.

The first stage will cost the government 28.5 billion roubles ($800 million), Izvestia said.

Previous lunar expeditions, which started with the USSR's Luna program in 1959 and the US landing the first man on the Moon 10 years later, discovered aluminum, iron, titanium, rare earths and other minerals.

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Russia to Begin Moon Colonization in 2030 Report

May 11, 2014

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

Russia is reportedly planning to construct a manned colony on the moon by the year 2030, and could take the first steps towards establishing a base of operations on the lunar surface within the next two years.

FoxNews.com, citing reports published Thursday by the Russian-language newspaper Izvestia, said that the nation plans to be prepared to send manned missions to orbit the moon by the year 2028.

During the final stages of that program, humans would be sent to the lunar surface in order to build an infrastructure that would be used by a permanent base of operations. The first stage of the project would cost approximately 28.5 billion rubles, or $815.8 million, and the country is hoping to gain the support of private-sector investors.

A report on the program, which was prepared by the Russian Academy of Sciences, Roscosmos and Moscow State University and referenced by RIA Novosti, said that the moon was a space object for the future exploration by terrestrial civilization, and a geopolitical competition for the Moons natural resources may begin in the 21st century.

The Russian media outlet went on to say that the officials behind the moon colonization mission are planning several three- to four-year projects over the next 16 years. The first leg of the project will focus on analyzing the physical and chemical composition of the future home of the base, the moons south pole.

The first four of those missions will take place between 2016 and 2025, said Lee Moran of the New York Daily News. Afterwards, round trips have been scheduled for 2028 to 2030, and a manned exploration mission is set for the following decade. The main purpose of the manned lunar operations will be to extract minerals such as aluminum, iron and titanium, which were discovered by previous moon missions.

The program also envisages building a space- and Earth-monitoring observatory on the Moon, said Moscow Daily Times reporter Anna Dolgov. While the program envisages international cooperation on the project, it stresses that the independence of the national lunar program must be ensured regardless of the conditions and the extent of the participation in it by foreign partners.

Lunar resources may present a treasure-trove of rare and valuable minerals of substantial strategic importance, according to NASA, but the concentration and the distribution of those elements remain uncertain, she added. The Moon can also be used as a launchpad for future missions into deep space, said the research chief of the Institute of Space Policy, Ivan Moiseyev, Izvestia reported.

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Reports: Russia Is Planning To Establish A Manned Moon Base By 2030

Russia Plans to Colonize the Moon in 2030
Russia has drafted a program for colonization of the moon, and plans to send the first expeditions to build a permanent lunar base in 2030, the Russian Izves...

By: ShantiUniverse

Excerpt from:
Russia Plans to Colonize the Moon in 2030 - Video