Russia to launch a pilot spaceship to Mars in 2018

Russian Journal ^ | January 11, 2004

[RussianConservative]

MOSCOW - Russian scientists have started constructing space ships of a new type. One of them will allow travelling to USA through space, another is to land in Gusev crater on Mars.

First type ship is named “kosmoplan”, or “space-glider”. The model tests were successful, the ship took off and landed in an appointed place, Izvestia reports.

This ship is a kind of analog to American shuttle, as it does not need rocket carrier and vertical launch. Kosmoplan, like an ordinary plane, can take off unaided from an ordinary air field, then, reaching speed fourteen thousand km/hour it goes to the Earth orbit, and finally lands at an ordinary air field again. It can carry loads and passengers. A kosmoplan flight from Moscow to New-York will take fifty minutes only.

Kosmoplan uses oxygen-hydrogen mixed fluid as fuel, its hull is made of very durable composite carbon material. This material is used now for Proton rocket hull.

Not much detail is reported about the second type space ship. The cost of the Russian Martian project is about $20 billion. The spaceship must be ready to launch in 2018 when Mars and Earth are in opposition, which means the closest distance possible between them.

[Porterville]

Russia is too European to have anything that works.

[Porterville]

Russia is too European to have anything that works.

[Porterville]

And yes I know it is part of Asia.

[MamaLucci]

Space race anyone?

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[MarkeyD]

2018? Went out on a limb on this one, didn't they? :)

[RussianConservative]

Stop while you ahead, you emberras yourself.

[RussianConservative]

Oh, and I would say, Russia has tax system that works and that US conservatives can only have wild dreams about....and abortion laws that they can also only dream about.

[Enough is ENOUGH]

Where did they get the money for this endeavor? I thought they were so broke they couldn't afford to protect their nuclear arsenol from theft and black market sales to the terrorists.

[RussianConservative]

And when US land on Mars and Moon again? Hear much talk of Bush big drive but absolutely no detail or dates...just big speaches...so when US on limb?

[RussianConservative]

Russia has 8th largest economy in world and grew in Purchasing Power Parity from 2001 to 2002 from 1.2 trillion to 1.409 trillion...waiting to see figures of this year, but grow rate was 7.2%, so should be around $1.5 trillion, around size of England, or just shy of it.

[djf]

And in fact Russia, which spans 11 time zones, is the world leader in aerospace, out of necessity.

[HitmanLV]

It's unclear that Russia could successfully launch a Volkswagen to an address in midtown Moscow...

[11x62]

Russia goes to Mars only if we pay for it. The whole space station program was welfare for Russian rocket scientists.

[Porterville]

Still, too much love for the french; alas, Russia is doomed.

[Pubbie]

"and abortion laws that they can also only dream about."

Did the statistics for the number of Russian Births in 2003 come out yet?

[Porterville]

I'm just saying that you can not be successful and love the french; the only way to be successful in this world is too hate the french.

[MarkeyD]

Did you notice my smiley face? Actually, I don't even think it's a good idea at this point of time. Too much money. And I was a kid in the sixties spending all my looking at books on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. I remember where I was when Neal Armstrong fist walked on the moon.

[Husker24]

This ship is a kind of analog to American shuttle, as it does not need rocket carrier and vertical launch. Kosmoplan, like an ordinary plane, can take off unaided from an ordinary air field, then, reaching speed fourteen thousand km/hour it goes to the Earth orbit, and finally lands at an ordinary air field again. It can carry loads and passengers. A kosmoplan flight from Moscow to New-York will take fifty minutes only.

WTF!......they have this now, and we dont?........thats a little depressing.