Russia plans manned moon shot by 2030
The Register – RIK MYSLEWSKI – Mar 16, 2012
The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos has submitted to its government a draft set of ambitious plans for its activities through 2030, including sending a manned craft around the moon, building ion-powered space tugs, and trying again to visit Mars.
As was true with their failed Phobos-Grunt Mars probe, Roscosmos plans to accomplish all this on the relative cheap, according to a article in Russia Beyond the Headlines (originally published in the Russian-language Moscow News).
…Roscosmos’ cheeseparing approach hasn’t worked out well recently. Phobos-Grunt, for example, was a 5bn-ruble program – that’s a mere $171m in today’s dollars. That Mars-moon probe, as Reg spacebois well remember, was launched successfuly, but never made it out of earth orbit, lost contact with ground control, was eventually spotted flying in reverse, and crashed into the Pacific some two months later.
The Russian sources also remind us of Roscosmos failed Coronas-Foton sun-studier, which went quiet only a year into its three-year mission, and the short life of the Tatiana-2.
We’ll add to that list Roscosmos’ Phobos 1 and 2, which made it to Mars, but soon crapped out, and Mars 96 – aka Mars 8 – which didn’t even make it into orbit: it crashed into the ocean when its fourth stage failed shortly after liftoff. Go to story
Related:
Africans must travel to the moon: Uganda president
AFP – May 2, 2009
Africans must travel to the moon to investigate what developed nations have been doing in outer space, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Saturday.
“The Americans have gone to the moon. And the Russians. The Chinese and Indians will go there soon. Africans are the only ones who are stuck here,” Museveni said, addressing a meeting of the Uganda Law Society in Entebbe.
“We must also go there and say: ‘What are you people doing up here?’.” Go to story
excerpt from morning walk conversation, Los Angeles, December 8, 1973:
PRABHUPADA: …Nowadays they are not talking of going to the moon planet. There is no newspaper news.
SVARUP DAMODAR: They have a bigger plan.
PRABHUPADA: That is another bluff. Now the small plan they could not make successful. Now they are thinking of bigger plan. You see?
SVARUP DAMODAR: They are planning to go to Mars now.
PRABHUPADA: Yes, that is another bluff. Another bluff. The smaller plan, they could not make successful. Now they’re attempting bigger plan. Bara bara goragere rasatala, beta gora katha jala.(?) There is a story that there was river. You know, horse can swim over. So big, big stalwart horses, they wavered, and, they were washed away by the flood. So one lean and thin horse is coming, “Can you tell me how much water is there?” It is like bara bara goragere rasatala, beta gora katha jala.(?) So these rascals could not reach even the moon planet; now they are planning to the Mars planet. Just see. And another rascal will believe him. That, What you have done for the, which is the nearest planet?
KARANDHARA: Well, they say they’ve done everything they wanted to do with the moon. They say they’ve accomplished everything they wanted to on the moon.
PRABHUPADA: So you are not successful. That’s a fact.
KARANDHARA: Basically what they did is they went there and they realized it’s not worth anything, so there’s no use going there.
PRABHUPADA: That means you bluff again, and you take some money. That’s your business.
PRAJAPATI: The public interest is flagging, and they’re not interested in the moon anymore. They want something more exciting. So to get the…
PRABHUPADA: Yes. So that is bluffing. That is bluffing. The scientists want to be engaged and get money from the government, so they must go on bluffing. Otherwise how they’ll get money?
