Posted on 01/19/2012 12:17:59 PM PST by presidio9
Russia is talking with the US and Europe on plans to create a manned research base on the moon, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.
Roscosmos is discussing the possibilities for a permanent moon base with officials from NASA and the European Space Agency, the agency's chief, Vladimir Popovkin said.
"We don't want man to just step on the moon," Popovkin told Vesti FM radio station, according to the Ria Novosti news agency. "Today, we know enough about it, we know that there is water in its polar areas ... we are now discussing how to begin [the moon's] exploration with NASA and the European Space Agency."
He said the plan was either to set up a base on the moon or launch a station to orbit around it.
Russia also is planning to send two unmanned mission to the moon by 2020, Popovkin said.
The comments come after a string of high profile space failures by the Russians. On Sunday, the doomed Mars probe Phobos-Grunt plummeted
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxdc.com ...
NASA?
They’re still around?
Yeah, they do a lot of islamic outreach these days though.
The Moon - Been there, done that, bought the T-Shirt.
Uh, don’t you need heavy lift capability for that? I guess the Russkies will supply that as well...
Isn’t the crescent moon the symbol of islam? How much more outreach can you get?
“Why do they need us?”
Because their rockets keep crashing?
“Why do they need us? Serious question.”
We do some serious simulation and modeling, for one, plus we have a lot of people who know how to get stuff done in space (who are currently not doing that).
So if they team up with us, we WON’T be teaming up with the other bunch planning a Moon base, the Chinese, Russia’s friendly rivals.
So, we cancelled our missile defense program and turned our space program over to the Russians. Thanks, President Obama, you managed to fool enough voters to destroy America.
One of the areas of research that needs to be done is how best to protect humans from the cosmic radiation levels that reach the moon’s surface (compared to what reaches the earth’s surface after what is filtered out by our atmosphere), during long stays on the moon.
I would expect that the length of stays on human-occupied moon bases would be longer than the present typical stays on our earth-orbiting international space station.
And would a moon base be best constructed using “space station” type units set down on the moon, or would it be to construct underground facilities on the moon that humans could retreat to for every minute they do not need to be “outside”.
Also, in terms of temperature extremes alone, would underground facilities make it easier (and less energy consuming) to “shelter” from them?
Long duration stays on the moon are definitely a necessary step toward mars.
Nothing in the story answers the question - Why?
If there is a practical reason with benefits let’s hear it.
If it’s pure symbolism, we can’t afford that anymore.
or would it be to construct underground facilities on the moon that humans could retreat to for every minute they do not need to be “outside”.
All of that works great in sci-fi, but the last time I checked, the type of equiptment needed to construct underground was, like, really really heavy.
Plus, lunar bedrock is inches below the surface. There's no weather, microbiology or chemical reactions to create soil.
Sounds good to me....Lets send the Moon Worshipers and Moonbats(dems) up first! Empty out Gitmo and the Islamic Comunities tell them they are going on a “Midnight Carpet Ride” to meet Allah. Perfect outreach.....(Well..if they can survive the whole not having oxygen problem...LOL)
The ISS was supposed to be used for staging manned missions to Mars and to asteroids. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/nasa_rsa.html
Russia was in on the ISS, but contributed NOTHING on time or to specifications.
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