In 2018, Russia will begin creating elements of a lunar base and equipment that will be needed to create infrastructure on the moon. More than ten billion rubles are planned to be allocated for the project.
According to the draft Federal Space Program for 2016–2025, presented by Roscosmos, financing of work related to the construction of the Russian lunar base is scheduled to begin in 2018. Roscosmos intends to allocate 10.37 billion rubles for these purposes until 2025.
Initially, a prototype of a lunar base consisting of residential, laboratory, power and node modules will be created on Earth. The project will also create prototypes of robotic equipment for construction and installation and excavation work on the moon: a crane, grader, excavator, cable-laying machine and a robot for reconnaissance, the newspaper Izvestia writes with reference to an official document.
For the first time, Russia announced its desire to colonize a natural satellite of the Earth in April this year. According to the published draft Concept of the Russian lunar program from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Roscosmos and Moscow State University, by the middle of the century a habitable base and a site for the extraction of local minerals should be created on the Moon. The first missions with the landing of astronauts to deploy a lunar base are scheduled for 2030.
Experts have already criticized this project. Due to poorly developed robotics, catching up, they say, needs to be done as soon as possible and more intensively. For an effective result, Russia needs a national space strategy and an interconnected program for the exploration of the moon, and not separate projects in different directions.
The newspaper was unable to get a comment on this topic from Roskosmos.
Promotional video:
Meanwhile, China plans to extract helium-3 on the moon. Scientists estimate that this element will help provide humanity with energy for 10,000 years ahead
Chinese scientists said that mining on the moon could solve the energy crisis by providing humanity with energy for 10,000 years in advance through the use of a rare element called helium-3.
This is a rather bold statement, which has a foundation: studies have shown that there are large deposits of natural resources on the moon that can be used to power a clean fusion reactor. Helium-3 is very rare on Earth, as the atmosphere prevents solar winds from blowing it off the planet's surface. The moon, in turn, does not have such protection, and isotopes, freely striking the surface, combine with dust.
Chinese scientists plan to extract helium-3 by heating the lunar dust to 600 degrees. Then the resulting element will be sent to Earth for intended use.
Helium-3 is believed to have virtually no disadvantages as a fuel source. The element is not radioactive, making it an ideal fuel for clean fusion power. Even a small amount of this element allows you to get a huge amount of energy from the fusion reaction - 0.02 grams of helium-3 contains an amount of energy equal to one barrel of oil.
The Mail Online estimates that just 40 tons of helium-3 will provide the United States with energy for a full year. There are about 10 million tons of this fuel on the moon.
It is likely that Russia wants a base on the moon for the same reason as China.