Russia Eyes Industrial Development Of Moon: Expert

Russia Eyes Industrial Development Of Moon: Expert

www.thanhniennews.com

Russia is working on a space transport system that could eventually lead to the industrialization of the moon, a space expert said.

Thirty-eight years after the United States put the first man on the moon, Russia could reach it using Soyuz rockets, the head of the Russian space company RKK Energia, Nikolai Sevastianov, told the Vedomosti daily.

"It is time to think about industrial development of the moon. We are sometimes criticized for making such suggestions too early," Sevastianov was quoted as saying in an interview released on Wednesday.

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It seems that there will be another race to the moon. But this time, a long term stay. US, Russia & China? Any other countries?

www.thanhniennews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

A flight around the moon would cost about $100 million, Faranetta said.

I wonder if it's inclusive of tax. Seriously, I thought that it should have been more expensive than that.

[edit on 12-4-2007 by searching_for_truth]

I'm struggling to think of anything that's commercially viable to exploit on the moon. Tritium? Tourism? Strategic military advantage? Scientific research and development? What ever it is it'd want to be lucrative to justify the travel.

[edit on 12/4/07 by subz]