April 11, 2014

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin called three strategic tasks facing Russia in development of outer space, ‘the expansion of our presence in low Earth orbit and the transition from exploration to development of them; developing near-moon space and the Moon; Moon settlement; preparation and beginning of the Mars exploration and other objects in the solar system." On the eve of Cosmonautics Day Rogozin wrote about it in an article in "Rossiyskaya Gazeta ".

According to Deputy Prime Minister, Russia is going to come to the Moon permanently, because “of course it is not interim goal." "It will be not judicious  to fly to the Moon 10-20 times after that to stop  flying and to begin journeys to Mars or asteroids. This process has a beginning but no end», - Dmitry Rogozin writes. According to Dmitry Rogozin the Moon is an important target for basic research and the closest to the Earth source of extraterrestrial matter. Moreover, the natural satellite of the Earth can become a platform for technological research and new space techniques tests.

As perspective tasks within lunar exploration Rogozin mentions the creation of the first lunar and alien visited laboratory, where analysis tools for study of deep space, lunar minerals, meteoritic matter, pilot-line production for useful substances , gases , water from the regolith would be placed. In 2030 the first manned lunar exploration will be planned, after which should be deployed visited lunar base. After that missions to asteroids and Mars will be possible.

The subsection "Nuclear-powered Starship" Rogozin said that currently the Russian Federal Space agency of the Russian Federation (ROSCOSMOS) together the Russian Academy of Sciences and the State Corporation "Rosatom" have been instructed to study and form a "proposal for the feasibility of the national project "Exploration  of Deep Space".

Creation of  nuclear power plants, energy conversion plasma technologies, development of biotechnology , robotics and new materials manufacture should become main research envelope and advanced development on this project.

http://lenta.ru/news/2014/04/11/moon/ http://www.rg.ru/2014/04/11/rogozin.html;