Russia will begin Moon colonization in 2030 – draft space …

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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