A private Russian company proposes to build a lunar base for 10 years.

According to TASS , Alexander Ilyin, the general designer of the Russian company Lin Industrial , which develops the Taimyr ultra-light rocket, declared its readiness to create a base on the Moon within 10 years after the adoption of the relevant decision. The cost of the base, according to preliminary estimates, will be 550 billion rubles. In the draft program, aimed at approval by the Cabinet of Ministers, it is proposed to allocate about 2 trillion rubles for the lunar program in 2014-2025. At the same time, manned expeditions to the moon and the deployment of the first elements of the lunar infrastructure are planned after 2030.

The project involves the use of existing equipment and tools that can be created in the next five years. Thus, it is proposed to use a modernized heavy Angara as a launch vehicle, the first flight of which took place in late December. The ship, according to Ilyin, can be created on the basis of the buildings of the descent vehicle and the domestic compartment of Soyuz, and the landing lunar module can be created on the basis of the Fregat upper stage. To maintain the life of the base, it will take 37 starts within five years.

The company has already figured out where to deploy the first lunar settlement - this is Mount Malapert near the south pole of the moon. “This is a fairly flat plateau with direct visibility of the Earth, which provides good conditions for communication and is a convenient place to land. Sunlight is present on the mountain for 89% of the time, and the duration of the night, which happens only a few times a year, does not exceed 3-6 days, ”Ilyin said.
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Commenting on this initiative, director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor and graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Lev Matveyevich Zeleny noted that the project symbolizes the return of interest in the study and exploration of the Moon. “But it’s too early to talk about building a whole settlement,” noted the academician.


Lev Green, photo Gazeta.ru

Green explained that first you need to choose a landing site, create technologies that ensure the delivery and vital activity of a person on the Moon, determine the tasks for astronauts and solve the issue of radiation protection. In the concept proposed by the Russian Academy of Sciences and Roscosmos, these things are provided for, the director of the institute recalled, suggesting that the Lin Industrial project be considered an “Artek fantasy”. “It's good that they dream. There are talented people in their team. Some of their development in the future may be useful, "- concluded Green.

In the meantime, the state lunar program is going through hard days. The extensive plans announced in 2014 for the colonization of the satellite and the transfer of hazardous industries there were actually postponed for an indefinite period due to the fever in the financial markets and the general difficult economic situation at the end of 2014.