Russia Has Sights Set On Manned Moon Landing By 2030 207
New submitter techfun89 writes "Russia plans on sending cosmonauts to the moon as well as unmanned spacecraft to Mars, Jupiter and Venus by 2030. Considering the recent launch failures in Russia, these plans seem very ambitious. From the article: 'These ambitious spaceflight goals are laid out in a strategy document drawn up recently by Russia's Federal Space Agency (known as Roscosmos), the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Tuesday (March 13).
And there's more. Roscosmos wants a new rocket called Angara to become the nation's workhorse launch vehicle by 2020, replacing the venerable Soyuz and Proton rockets that have been carrying the load since the 1960s.'"
Re:Good idea! (Score:5, Interesting)
It will be good to finally get back to the moon. Can't wait to find out in what ways it's changed since the last time we visited.
Actually a lot has changed since we last visited - sort of. When the first moon landings happened, the technology that folks were able to take down to the surface was exceptionally limited. This means that any landings in the future will be able to carry out experiments that could have only been dreamed about in the 60s. SO, while things on the moon itself may not have changed, we are probably still going to learn a vast amount for the first time.
Besides, perhaps this is just the embarassment that the US space program needs to get some funding again.
Re:Good idea! (Score:4, Interesting)
Not a chance (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not a coincidence that newer Russian designs don't work. The "old guard" has retired. The new — immgirated. Just the other day international rankings came out for higher education. Not a single Russian school is on the list. That's what happens when you don't even pay starvation wages to your professors. Sooner or later they throw in the towel. It's a miracle things held together this long.
Given the scarcity of talented engineers, and the pitiful salaries Roscosmos pays to its staff, I'm kind of wondering how they expect to pull this off. They couldn't even do it when they had some of the best schools in the world (which regularly minted Nobel laureates), during the Soviet times, with essentially unlimited budget and manpower. Nowadays they can only build 20 year old rockets, and make minor improvements here and there. Put simply, after neglecting higher education for about a decade and a half, they've pissed away their technical capability to do anything they haven't already done before.
Launch failures (Score:4, Interesting)
>Considering the recent launch failures in Russia, these plans seem very ambitious.
Not sure I see the relevance, seeing as:
Recent failures are a blip in a long run of reliability, and
They're going to be flying different rigs by 2030, anyway, which may be invincible, or every one may fail...
Not sure I see much point to it, though. Maybe Putin is working on national morale, or make-work, or kickbacks to someone.
Re:Wow! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Not a chance (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Good idea! (Score:4, Interesting)
By 2030 SpaceX will probably be running regular tourist flights
Not at the rate they're going. Their last launch was Dec 2010. Their next is scheduled for April (probably May) this year. And their first commercial payload will be sometime next year.
Re:Ambitious? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's the popular version - and it's also very, very, wrong.
F1 engine development started in 1856 for example. At the time of Kennedy's speech, both the Apollo CSM and what would eventually become the Saturn V were already being developed as well. This is why he chose the Lunar Landing as a goal in the first place - it was a reachable scientific and engineering goal that was already quietly underway.
In 1995, their goal was the Moon by 2000, and Mars by 2015. In 2000, their goal was the Moon by 2010 and Mars by 2020. In 2010 their goal was the Moon by 2020 and Mars by 2030.... The Russians have a long history of bold powerpoint plans, and basically have never accomplished any of them.
Re:Good idea! (Score:5, Interesting)
It wasn't really all the cold war, you know. Sure, the Toynbee Tile "footballs in space" thing had something to do with it. But it had as much to do with Kennedy's skill as an orator and a desire to build some unifying non-military national mission so we could lay off the killing foreigners thing for a while. Usually for these things I cite the text of the speech, but today I find the recording of Kennedy at Rice University [youtube.com] is up on Youtube now.
12:15 he anticipates the home PC.
I watched it again just now. Damn, but it's dusty in here.