Russian Group Plans Men on Mars by 2011

Newsday ^ | 4/09/04 | Maria Danilova

[Rams82]

MOSCOW -- A group of Russian space experts on Friday announced an ambitious plan to send a six-man crew to Mars within a decade, a project it said would cost only $3.5 billion. Russian space officials dismissed the project as nonsense.

A researcher at the Central Research Institute for Machine-Building, Russia's premier authority on space equipment design, said it would carry out the project with funding promised by Aerospace Systems, a little-known private Russian company that says it draws no resources from the state budget.

[Grim]

In other news.... Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Russians planned to land a man on the Sun.

When incredulous journalists asked how the spacemen could avoid being incinerated, President Putin replied, "Easy. We will have them land at night."

[Dacus943]

"Russian Group Plans Men on Mars by 2011"

I truly admire the Russians. However they have a better chance of standing on a Mars Candy Bar in 2011, than Mars the Planet!

[kenth]

Did they say they would land men on Mars or live men on Mars?

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Slipped two years already?

[Simmy2.5]

Well, I admire their effort. Whether they succeed or not, is another story entirely.

[Simmy2.5]

Oh yeah. Wasn't the original year they stated that they would land on Mars was 2009? Keep pushing it back, maybe they will be right eventually.

[BipolarBob]

I saw this movie. Not very realistic or entertaining. I gave it a thumbs down.

[SENTINEL]

Now I know what they have been doing with all that money we gave them to hold up their end of the deal on the space station.

[smonk]

you can't blame the russians for the thought. the
economy AND the environment on Mars is better than
that of russia.

[wildandcrazyrussian]

You should visit Russia sometime, you'd be impressed at how modern (and safe) Moscow and St Petersburg and many other cities are.

One need not be anti-Russian to be proud of America (not that you are since it seems you are only joking).

[Feiny]

My sister is returning today from Russia with 2 adopted babies. She enjoyed the 3 weeks there and said the people were lovely.

[Army Air Corps]

At the very least, it should provide a shot in the arm to the Russian aerospace industry. Since this is funded with private funds, all the better.

[reluctantwarrior]

The most capable heavy lift rocket is the Russian Energa(sp), so if these guys want to take a shot at it why throw stones? The leading spacophiles think it can be done cheaply if you make your fuel for the return from raw materials found on Mars. So if I land someone on Mars and they drive around and claim say all of it, 4 billion sounds like a pretty good investment. We'll see who laughs last....godspeed crazyrussian

[Antoninus]

God bless them! Though I have serious doubts this is anything but fantasy, I would absolutely love to see them succeed. It's just this kind of individual spunk that makes things happen. If we wait for the government to do it, we'll be waiting---forever.

[unibrowshift9b20]

hm, they say they're going to use a reality tv program to fund it. I don't think this will work, but its an incredible idea! Think if on whatever mars mission that actually goes, they set it up like a reality tv thing! They could make some cash on the side, involve the public with the mission, give the astronauts something interesting to do, give some lucky tv station a lucrative deal. It might get old quick, so you could only do weekly episodes, that could recap the previous week.