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starship-design: Russia Charts Course to Moon, Mars
Russia Charts Course to Moon, Mars
Aviation Week & Space Technology
10/13/2003, page 29
Frank Morring, Jr.
Bremen, Germany
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Cash-strapped Russia charts course to Moon, Mars after completing its
station
components
Big Plans
Russia may or may not have the money to keep supplying the International
Space
Station while NASA's space shuttle is grounded, but it has big ideas for
future
human space exploration that would follow some of the same technology tracks
the
U.S. space agency is pursuing.
Those include a nuclear-assisted Mars landing by 2025, with a permanent base
on
the red planet by mid-century, and construction of a polar-orbiting
human-tended
space station for Earth monitoring and microgravity research. A permanent
lunar
base is also on the drawing boards at the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos
(RKA), as are plans to complete Russia's half of the ISS by 2009.
"It is possible to consider flights to the Moon and Mars," RKA Director
General
Yuri Koptiev told the 54th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) here
Sept.
30. "We believe that technology is available to permit us to do that, and we
also
believe that an organization similar to the one for the ISS should be the
basis
for implementation of such ambitious projects."
Koptiev endorsed the exploration-technology strategy adopted by NASA
Administrator
Sean O'Keefe, who is pushing nuclear energy for both power production and
propulsion in space under "Project Prometheus." O'Keefe argues that
nuclear-electric propulsion would enable a host of space exploration
activities,
including a rapid transit to Mars that would reduce the time a crew is
exposed to
space radiation.
Russia already supplies the U.S. with the plutonium fuel it uses for its
deep-space radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), and has sold an
unfueled
Topaz space reactor to the U.S. Energy Dept. for study. Like O'Keefe,
Koptiev
argued that advances in space nuclear power are needed to move human
explorers
beyond low-Earth orbit.
"The really important thing is the development of new technologies,
especially in
the propulsion areas, which will allow us to step considerably forward in
space
exploration," Koptiev said. "I have in mind electric jet propulsion
technology and
nuclear power used for these purposes."
President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed space
cooperation
during a September summit at Camp David, Md. Among items on the space agenda
was
the ongoing discussion in the White House about next steps for human
exploration,
which would have a heavy dose of international cooperation (AW&ST Oct. 6, p.
49).
Among objectives Bush is believed to be considering is a return to the Moon,
which
would mesh with Russian plans.
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Russia has plans to complete its half of the International Space Station and
move
on to ambitious missions beyond low-Earth orbit. International cooperation
on the
ISS model would be a key element of any future efforts.
Koptiev presented a slide that called for building a permanent base on the
lunar
surface "in cooperation with the U.S. and other countries." One suggested
objective of such a project would be mining the fusion fuel helium 3, which
is
believed to permeate the lunar regolith. NASA has also studied the idea over
the
years, but left it on the back burner because there are no fusion reactors
to burn
helium 3. Russia, too, did not list a date for a permanent lunar base.
For Mars exploration, however, Koptiev presented a schedule that would see
human
missions spending 15-60 days exploring on the surface and from orbit in
2025-35.
After that would come missions of as much as a year on the surface or in
Martian
orbit, leading to a permanent base for detailed exploration of Mars and as a
jumping-off point for missions to more distant planets.
In addition to space nuclear power, Koptiev called for more work on
closed-loop
environmental control and life support systems, and on robotic aids to human
explorers. He said his agency already has plans "to investigate how an
interplanetary mission would be implemented."
Koptiev's remarks came at an IAC plenary session on the space station, where
heads
or representatives of the principal ISS partner agencies unanimously
predicted
completion of the orbiting laboratory despite the obstacles caused by loss
of the
shuttle Columbia Feb. 1. NASA's O'Keefe praised Russia in particular for its
commitment to the ISS partnership in the wake of the disaster, and
Koptiev--while
stressing the need for more "balance" in funding the stop-gap resupply
measures
that rely on Russian hardware--reiterated Russia's plans to stay the course.
"We believe that by the year 2008 the ISS core will be completed, and the
operational lifespan will be not less than until 2016," he said through an
interpreter. "Our main objective here is to reach a permanent crew of six at
a
minimum, as soon as possible."
The Russian space chief said he expects his agency will get a $100-million
budget
boost in 2004, which is significant in Russian terms. Koptiev joked to
reporters
that it's Russia's "secret" how it can accomplish the feats it does in space
with
a relatively tiny budget, although most observers consider that a function
of low
space industry salaries and Soviet-era investments.
Russia's plans for the ISS include development of a multipurpose laboratory
module
for the nadir docking port of the Zarya module, which could be attached as
early
as 2006. Russia and the European Space Agency have discussed joint
development of
the facility, which would provide a second docking port for a Soyuz rescue
vehicle
for three crew-members, allowing the ISS crew size to grow from its nominal
three
to six (AW&ST June 16, p. 190).
Other ISS elements in the Russian pipeline include the science and power
module, a
Russian-side solar array planned for 2007. A research module for the nadir
port of
the Zvezda module could be ready by 2009, according to Koptiev.
Harking back to the old Space Station Freedom, the non-Soviet predecessor to
the
ISS, Koptiev suggested a two-module space station that would orbit with an
inclination to the Equator of at least 73 deg. for Earth observation, and be
visited only periodically by humans to minimize disturbances to the
microgravity
environment on board.
Although Russia has sent two non-professional space tourists to the ISS,
Koptiev
said he did not expect that to be a significant space activity in the
future, at
least at Russia's reported $20-million fare.
"We don't believe that this area of space exploration is the main one,
because
there are no queues occurring in the tourist bureaus around the world so
far," he
said.