A lot of buzz has been stirred by NASA’s recent speculations regarding life on Mars, mining asteroids and the construction of a base on moon. With America showing so much interest in a particular field, it was inevitable for Russia to join the race; we all know that cold war is still going on between these two countries.
However, you would be surprised to know that Russia is already a crucial member of the International Space Station’s supply and maintenance. It has maintained its interest in space since long and according to Russian experts; Moon is the gateway to space exploration.
A roadmap has been laid out by a committee, which comprised of esteemed members from prestigious institutions such as The Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow State University and Roscosmos (a private firm). According to this roadmap, Russia will have a colony on Moon by 2040 if everything goes according to plan. The primary purpose of this colony has been declared as that of a base of operations which will revolve around space exploration. The committee has a goal of setting up this system before any competitor countries.
According to the roadmap; the project will kick off in 2016 with lunar rovers searching the Moon’s surface for a feasible site; a site which is rich in minerals and water deposits. Manned missions will begin in 2028; however, no landing by humans will take place till 2030 after which the construction and setting up of the base will require 10 years to complete. The cost estimate stands at a figure of $816 million which shall be covered by public and private sources.
According to Ivan Moiseyev; Moon is ‘the first step on the way to deep space’ and therefore, just setting up a base on the moon is not the primary goal of Russia here. Instead; Russia plans on using this base as a launching pad for its explorations of space and other planets/stars. Check out the youtube video below for more:
Photo of lander/astronaut with Earth in lunar sky is obvious fakery. Besides the fact that that Earth was cropped and pasted out of the photo called “Earth Rise” – the forger thinks to size the earth like we see the size of the moon from earth. But the Earth is 6 times larger than the moon and would appear much larger viewed from the moon than is being depicted.