In the future, Russia will need the Moon and Mars
Russia is not going to extend the operation of the International Space Station (ISS), which American colleagues strongly suggest. On this occasion, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin replied that the ISS is needed before 2020. After this period, financial resources will be redirected to other, more promising space projects. Thanks to the published draft Concept of the Russian lunar program, today we have the opportunity to understand the future priorities of Russian cosmonautics.
According to the concept presented in the media, Russia plans to explore the moon in several stages before 2050. At the first stage, from 2016 to 2025, the 4 automatic interplanetary stations are planned to be sent to the natural satellite of the Earth, the main task of which will be to determine the composition of the lunar soil and select the most suitable place for arranging the lunar base. At the second stage, from 2028 to 2030, the ship, which is being developed by RSC Energia, is planned to carry out manned expeditions to the Moon without disembarking the satellite. In 2030-2040, the first elements of the infrastructure, including the astronomical observatory, are planned to be deployed on the moon. For a successful breakthrough of Russia into space, a new Vostochny cosmodrome is being actively built.
If we talk about the time frames of the program, they now look much more realistic than before. For example, the former head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, voiced the agency’s plans to equip a manned expedition to a natural satellite of the Earth as early as 2020. Along the way, it is worth noting that at this stage of development only Russia from the entire international club of space powers has not sent to the other planets a single own spacecraft. This also needs to be taken into account when talking about the timing of the Russian space program.
At the same time, there is no place for the ISS in the new concept. However, before the 2020, the station will function in any case, and by this time the PRC is going to launch its own orbital station. The Chinese station Tiangong-3, weighing 60 tons, will be operated for at least 10 years. Due to this, by the 2020 year, two orbital stations will be in orbit of the Earth, at best, only one Chinese will be in the worst, and the ISS can repeat the fate of the Mir space station.
At the same time Russia has someone to explore space. The plans of the PRC also have a place for the development of our only satellite. Moreover, China, after a successful landing on the lunar surface of the Chang'e-3 apparatus and the successful mission of its own lunar rover, The Jade Hare, beats all the main participants in the new moon race on points. To consolidate on the surface of the moon, China, like Russia, is counting on 2050 year. After that, China and Russia are very likely to master the moon by joint efforts, because, unlike the EU and the US, Russian-Chinese relations are currently not overshadowed by the difference in geopolitical interests and mutual sanctions. In fairness it should be noted that it is quite difficult to predict relations between Russia and the PRC in almost 40 years.
Interest in space exploration is shown by such countries as India and Iran. And if the latter is only at the very beginning of the cosmic path, then India expects to carry out the first manned space flight by 2020, and by the year 2030 is ready to join the program for the exploration of the Moon. At the same time, India is going to explore space in close cooperation and cooperation with Russia.
Adjustments of the state program "Russia's space activity for 2013-2020 years"
The state program “Space Activity of Russia for 2013-2020”, which was approved by the Russian government back in 2012, was subject to adjustment in 2014. The text of this program, I want to believe that this is its final version, was published online on the official website of the Federal Space Agency. Alexander Milkovsky, who holds the post of general director of the main scientific organization of Roscosmos - FSUE TsNIIMash, made comments on this program on the pages of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
According to him, certain adjustments to the program were associated with changes in funding for 2013-2015 years, as well as the technical unavailability of some devices and the appearance of new projects on the horizon. Among the new areas of work, he singled out the ExoMars project. The agreement between the European Space Agency and Roscosmos on cooperation in the study of the red planet and other bodies of our solar system with the help of robotic means was signed 14 March 2013. In order to implement this agreement, it was decided to include a development project called ExoMars in the draft state program. 2013 billion rubles should be allocated to this project only from 2015 to 3,42.
In addition, the new edition of the program indicates the need to develop a new super-heavy rocket. The necessary technical and project reserves are planned to be created by the 2025 year, by the same time it is planned to begin experiments on ground testing of the elements of the launch vehicle. There are clarifications on the design of a promising manned transport system, if in the text of the previous program it was said about its creation by 2018, now flight tests are only expected to start in 2021. Such a shift in terms of the project was due to the fact that a spacecraft intended already for flights to the moon, and not just to near-earth orbit, would pass the test. It is reported that to conduct a series of tests of this ship will be involved in a new heavy-class rocket, which will replace the "Proton". In addition, the new space program provides for the development of a cargo landing complex, a manned takeoff and landing complex, as well as other infrastructure facilities that Russia will need to explore the moon.
Today, the leading Russian space industry design bureau - the State Research and Production Space Center named after MV Khrunichev, RSC Energia OJSC, S. P. Korolev State Research and Production Space Center TsSKB-Progress OJSC and GREC Makeeva OJSC are working on projects of launch vehicles of various payloads related to the super heavy class. At the first stage, such a rocket should put into orbit loads of up to 80 tons. Possessing a rocket of similar payload, it will be possible to launch a manned spacecraft into space, designed to fly around the moon, as well as allowing lunar expeditions to be carried out on board a satellite.
The Russian designers should decide on the look of the new rocket already in 2014 year. Currently, as part of the research work on the Magistral project, a technical project has been prepared, and the leading Russian design bureaus have begun work on the creation of advance projects for the KrK, a space-launched missile system with a super-heavy-class launch vehicle. These works should be completed in December of this year. After that, an examination of the submitted avanprojects will be carried out together with the FCA, as well as all interested organizations. After that, the technical characteristics of the complex and its appearance will be finally determined, and the terms of reference for its development will be prepared. The development work on the development of the Krk with a super heavy-class LV is included in the project of the Federal Space Program of Russia for the 2016-2025 years.
This is only the first stage of work on the creation of new missiles. At the second stage, it is planned to increase the energy capabilities of launch vehicles. The rockets with enhanced power supply will be needed to solve the most ambitious tasks of a more distant future (the creation of bases on the moon, expeditions to Mars, visits to various asteroids, etc.). From this stage of the program, regular flights to the moon should begin, as well as preparations for making flights to extraterrestrial space for removal more than 1,5 million kilometers from our planet.
The second stage involves the implementation of space flights to the moon using a single-launch scheme, that is, without conducting intermediate docks, creating lunar energy (nuclear, thermonuclear, solar), regular flights of astronaut crews to the moon, increasing the duration of a person’s stay on the moon (from several weeks to several months ), the creation of the first lunar productions, testing of complexes for the implementation of flights to Mars and asteroids. To solve all these problems, Russia will need a launch vehicle that can launch up to 160 tons of payload into space.
Why the moon?
Nowadays, when economic crises occur on the planet every now and then, many do not understand the importance of mastering and exploring the moon. According to Alexander Milkovsky, everything depends on our point of view on this question. If we approach the issue from the point of view of obtaining short-term gain, we really do not need the Moon. But any economic crisis is not the most dangerous phenomenon for the Earth. They have been and will happen again. The crisis of ideas, the loss of scientific schools and technologies, the de-intellectualization of society are much more dangerous for all of humanity. No one will argue with the fact that an educated person will be able to cope with any problems, including those from the field of economics, much faster. In this regard, cosmonautics is precisely the area where, due to the high complexity of the tasks being solved, the most intellectual personnel and development potential are always concentrated.
If we talk about the moon, then the natural satellite of the Earth, of course, can be attributed to space objects of strategic importance. The moon is our science laboratory, the energy and fossil resources of the future, the testing ground and the development of new technologies, the space port for future generations of earthlings. Science and the world do not stand still, they are constantly evolving. In the future, the Russian Federation will need both the Moon and the red planet, but if the necessary groundwork is not made in the present, then we will be left behind and cannot compete with other participants in the space race. To restore from scratch the entire system of manned cosmonautics in the future has become much more expensive and more difficult.
Today, there is no unity in whether Russia needs a lunar program, even among Russian space experts. Many of them argue with each other, believing that flying to the moon is only a passed stage, a repetition of what was already in the 70s of the XX century. However, it’s rather strange to think so. With the same success, one could “freeze”, for example, the development of the whole aviation right after the Wright brothers took to the air something resembling an airplane and flying only a few tens of meters. At the same time, scientific and technological progress over the past few decades has developed not even jerkily, but a fantastic take-off. Modern science and the production base have gone far from the possibilities of half a century ago. In this regard, the possibilities and functionality for the exploration and exploration of the moon today there is much more.
Nowadays, the Moon is a bottomless storehouse of knowledge about the Earth, if we consider it from the point of view of conducting basic research. The origin of the Earth and the Moon are closely related. In order to finally reconstruct all the processes of the origin of life on Earth, conducting scientific studies of lunar education are very important.
Eric Galimov, who is a member of the bureau of the Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on space, as early as 2009, in his work “Plans and miscalculations”, which was devoted to the problems of exploration of extraterrestrial space, emphasized the fact that the expediency of humanity’s return to the Moon’s exploration is due to at least four factors: ) Currently, the factual material that was received in the 1-60 years of the XX century has been fully comprehended and reworked. 70) New tasks were formulated that are associated with the development of cosmochemistry and geology. 2) There are tools and technologies that allow to obtain new data with accuracy and detail, which previously simply were not available to scientists. 3) There were projects to create stations on the Earth’s satellite designed for astronomical observations, extraction and use of lunar resources, etc.
The last point is especially interesting. Competition for natural resources that are on the moon, can turn serious. On the natural satellite of the Earth there is a lot of helium, while this is not about an inert gas without smell and color, but its light isotope - helium-3. Helium-3 is the best raw material for a controlled nuclear fusion reaction. At the same time, the reserves of this isotope on the moon are huge. Experts estimate them in a million tons. According to Eric Galimov, the reserves on the moon would be enough for humanity for a thousand years. Only one ton of helium-3 can replace 20 million tons of oil. In order to meet the needs of the entire Earth during the year, it would take all 200 tons of this lunar substance. The current need of Russia is estimated at 20-30 tons per year.
At the same time, the content of helium-3 in the lunar soil is insignificant and amounts to only about 10 mg per tonne of soil. This concentration means that in order to meet earthly needs, it will be necessary to open about 20 billion tons of reagent each year, this is equivalent to the area of 100 per 30 km with the depth of the 3 formation meter. Understanding the grandeur of design and work, it would be necessary to deploy the earth’s mining industry and its fuel and energy complex on the moon. This process will take more than one decade, but it is necessary to start it now, the academician believes.
Information sources:
http://vpk-news.ru/articles/20539
http://www.odnako.org/blogs/proch-iz-zemnoy-kolibeli-k-planam-rossii-po-osvoeniyu-kosmosa
http://www.mk.ru/science/2014/05/27/v-perspektive-rossii-ponadobyatsya-i-luna-i-mars.html
According to the concept presented in the media, Russia plans to explore the moon in several stages before 2050. At the first stage, from 2016 to 2025, the 4 automatic interplanetary stations are planned to be sent to the natural satellite of the Earth, the main task of which will be to determine the composition of the lunar soil and select the most suitable place for arranging the lunar base. At the second stage, from 2028 to 2030, the ship, which is being developed by RSC Energia, is planned to carry out manned expeditions to the Moon without disembarking the satellite. In 2030-2040, the first elements of the infrastructure, including the astronomical observatory, are planned to be deployed on the moon. For a successful breakthrough of Russia into space, a new Vostochny cosmodrome is being actively built.
If we talk about the time frames of the program, they now look much more realistic than before. For example, the former head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, voiced the agency’s plans to equip a manned expedition to a natural satellite of the Earth as early as 2020. Along the way, it is worth noting that at this stage of development only Russia from the entire international club of space powers has not sent to the other planets a single own spacecraft. This also needs to be taken into account when talking about the timing of the Russian space program.
At the same time, there is no place for the ISS in the new concept. However, before the 2020, the station will function in any case, and by this time the PRC is going to launch its own orbital station. The Chinese station Tiangong-3, weighing 60 tons, will be operated for at least 10 years. Due to this, by the 2020 year, two orbital stations will be in orbit of the Earth, at best, only one Chinese will be in the worst, and the ISS can repeat the fate of the Mir space station.
At the same time Russia has someone to explore space. The plans of the PRC also have a place for the development of our only satellite. Moreover, China, after a successful landing on the lunar surface of the Chang'e-3 apparatus and the successful mission of its own lunar rover, The Jade Hare, beats all the main participants in the new moon race on points. To consolidate on the surface of the moon, China, like Russia, is counting on 2050 year. After that, China and Russia are very likely to master the moon by joint efforts, because, unlike the EU and the US, Russian-Chinese relations are currently not overshadowed by the difference in geopolitical interests and mutual sanctions. In fairness it should be noted that it is quite difficult to predict relations between Russia and the PRC in almost 40 years.
Interest in space exploration is shown by such countries as India and Iran. And if the latter is only at the very beginning of the cosmic path, then India expects to carry out the first manned space flight by 2020, and by the year 2030 is ready to join the program for the exploration of the Moon. At the same time, India is going to explore space in close cooperation and cooperation with Russia.
Adjustments of the state program "Russia's space activity for 2013-2020 years"
The state program “Space Activity of Russia for 2013-2020”, which was approved by the Russian government back in 2012, was subject to adjustment in 2014. The text of this program, I want to believe that this is its final version, was published online on the official website of the Federal Space Agency. Alexander Milkovsky, who holds the post of general director of the main scientific organization of Roscosmos - FSUE TsNIIMash, made comments on this program on the pages of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
According to him, certain adjustments to the program were associated with changes in funding for 2013-2015 years, as well as the technical unavailability of some devices and the appearance of new projects on the horizon. Among the new areas of work, he singled out the ExoMars project. The agreement between the European Space Agency and Roscosmos on cooperation in the study of the red planet and other bodies of our solar system with the help of robotic means was signed 14 March 2013. In order to implement this agreement, it was decided to include a development project called ExoMars in the draft state program. 2013 billion rubles should be allocated to this project only from 2015 to 3,42.
In addition, the new edition of the program indicates the need to develop a new super-heavy rocket. The necessary technical and project reserves are planned to be created by the 2025 year, by the same time it is planned to begin experiments on ground testing of the elements of the launch vehicle. There are clarifications on the design of a promising manned transport system, if in the text of the previous program it was said about its creation by 2018, now flight tests are only expected to start in 2021. Such a shift in terms of the project was due to the fact that a spacecraft intended already for flights to the moon, and not just to near-earth orbit, would pass the test. It is reported that to conduct a series of tests of this ship will be involved in a new heavy-class rocket, which will replace the "Proton". In addition, the new space program provides for the development of a cargo landing complex, a manned takeoff and landing complex, as well as other infrastructure facilities that Russia will need to explore the moon.
Today, the leading Russian space industry design bureau - the State Research and Production Space Center named after MV Khrunichev, RSC Energia OJSC, S. P. Korolev State Research and Production Space Center TsSKB-Progress OJSC and GREC Makeeva OJSC are working on projects of launch vehicles of various payloads related to the super heavy class. At the first stage, such a rocket should put into orbit loads of up to 80 tons. Possessing a rocket of similar payload, it will be possible to launch a manned spacecraft into space, designed to fly around the moon, as well as allowing lunar expeditions to be carried out on board a satellite.
The Russian designers should decide on the look of the new rocket already in 2014 year. Currently, as part of the research work on the Magistral project, a technical project has been prepared, and the leading Russian design bureaus have begun work on the creation of advance projects for the KrK, a space-launched missile system with a super-heavy-class launch vehicle. These works should be completed in December of this year. After that, an examination of the submitted avanprojects will be carried out together with the FCA, as well as all interested organizations. After that, the technical characteristics of the complex and its appearance will be finally determined, and the terms of reference for its development will be prepared. The development work on the development of the Krk with a super heavy-class LV is included in the project of the Federal Space Program of Russia for the 2016-2025 years.
This is only the first stage of work on the creation of new missiles. At the second stage, it is planned to increase the energy capabilities of launch vehicles. The rockets with enhanced power supply will be needed to solve the most ambitious tasks of a more distant future (the creation of bases on the moon, expeditions to Mars, visits to various asteroids, etc.). From this stage of the program, regular flights to the moon should begin, as well as preparations for making flights to extraterrestrial space for removal more than 1,5 million kilometers from our planet.
The second stage involves the implementation of space flights to the moon using a single-launch scheme, that is, without conducting intermediate docks, creating lunar energy (nuclear, thermonuclear, solar), regular flights of astronaut crews to the moon, increasing the duration of a person’s stay on the moon (from several weeks to several months ), the creation of the first lunar productions, testing of complexes for the implementation of flights to Mars and asteroids. To solve all these problems, Russia will need a launch vehicle that can launch up to 160 tons of payload into space.
Why the moon?
Nowadays, when economic crises occur on the planet every now and then, many do not understand the importance of mastering and exploring the moon. According to Alexander Milkovsky, everything depends on our point of view on this question. If we approach the issue from the point of view of obtaining short-term gain, we really do not need the Moon. But any economic crisis is not the most dangerous phenomenon for the Earth. They have been and will happen again. The crisis of ideas, the loss of scientific schools and technologies, the de-intellectualization of society are much more dangerous for all of humanity. No one will argue with the fact that an educated person will be able to cope with any problems, including those from the field of economics, much faster. In this regard, cosmonautics is precisely the area where, due to the high complexity of the tasks being solved, the most intellectual personnel and development potential are always concentrated.
If we talk about the moon, then the natural satellite of the Earth, of course, can be attributed to space objects of strategic importance. The moon is our science laboratory, the energy and fossil resources of the future, the testing ground and the development of new technologies, the space port for future generations of earthlings. Science and the world do not stand still, they are constantly evolving. In the future, the Russian Federation will need both the Moon and the red planet, but if the necessary groundwork is not made in the present, then we will be left behind and cannot compete with other participants in the space race. To restore from scratch the entire system of manned cosmonautics in the future has become much more expensive and more difficult.
Today, there is no unity in whether Russia needs a lunar program, even among Russian space experts. Many of them argue with each other, believing that flying to the moon is only a passed stage, a repetition of what was already in the 70s of the XX century. However, it’s rather strange to think so. With the same success, one could “freeze”, for example, the development of the whole aviation right after the Wright brothers took to the air something resembling an airplane and flying only a few tens of meters. At the same time, scientific and technological progress over the past few decades has developed not even jerkily, but a fantastic take-off. Modern science and the production base have gone far from the possibilities of half a century ago. In this regard, the possibilities and functionality for the exploration and exploration of the moon today there is much more.
Nowadays, the Moon is a bottomless storehouse of knowledge about the Earth, if we consider it from the point of view of conducting basic research. The origin of the Earth and the Moon are closely related. In order to finally reconstruct all the processes of the origin of life on Earth, conducting scientific studies of lunar education are very important.
Eric Galimov, who is a member of the bureau of the Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences on space, as early as 2009, in his work “Plans and miscalculations”, which was devoted to the problems of exploration of extraterrestrial space, emphasized the fact that the expediency of humanity’s return to the Moon’s exploration is due to at least four factors: ) Currently, the factual material that was received in the 1-60 years of the XX century has been fully comprehended and reworked. 70) New tasks were formulated that are associated with the development of cosmochemistry and geology. 2) There are tools and technologies that allow to obtain new data with accuracy and detail, which previously simply were not available to scientists. 3) There were projects to create stations on the Earth’s satellite designed for astronomical observations, extraction and use of lunar resources, etc.
The last point is especially interesting. Competition for natural resources that are on the moon, can turn serious. On the natural satellite of the Earth there is a lot of helium, while this is not about an inert gas without smell and color, but its light isotope - helium-3. Helium-3 is the best raw material for a controlled nuclear fusion reaction. At the same time, the reserves of this isotope on the moon are huge. Experts estimate them in a million tons. According to Eric Galimov, the reserves on the moon would be enough for humanity for a thousand years. Only one ton of helium-3 can replace 20 million tons of oil. In order to meet the needs of the entire Earth during the year, it would take all 200 tons of this lunar substance. The current need of Russia is estimated at 20-30 tons per year.
At the same time, the content of helium-3 in the lunar soil is insignificant and amounts to only about 10 mg per tonne of soil. This concentration means that in order to meet earthly needs, it will be necessary to open about 20 billion tons of reagent each year, this is equivalent to the area of 100 per 30 km with the depth of the 3 formation meter. Understanding the grandeur of design and work, it would be necessary to deploy the earth’s mining industry and its fuel and energy complex on the moon. This process will take more than one decade, but it is necessary to start it now, the academician believes.
Information sources:
http://vpk-news.ru/articles/20539
http://www.odnako.org/blogs/proch-iz-zemnoy-kolibeli-k-planam-rossii-po-osvoeniyu-kosmosa
http://www.mk.ru/science/2014/05/27/v-perspektive-rossii-ponadobyatsya-i-luna-i-mars.html
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