TORONTO – According to a Russian media outlet, Russia has drafted a program to colonize the moon.
Izvestia, a Russian newspaper reported on Thursday that it had received a “draft concept” of plans to colonize the moon developed by Roscosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency) as well as the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute and Moscow State University.
The report said that the concept is to create a lunar testing ground and the possibility of “extracting natural resources.”
In April, the Russian ITAR-TASS News Agency reported that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the country wanted to expand its presence in space, including in low-earth orbit. He said it wanted to explore and colonize the moon, and explore Mars and other bodies in the solar system.
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The first phase, which would involve sending satellites in orbit around the moon to chart out the best sites — would start in 2016 and run to 2025. The second phase would run from 2028-2030 and would include a manned mission, the newspaper said.
The third phase would run from 2030-2040 and would include visiting astronauts, as well as the deployment of infrastructure elements.
One reason for setting up on a base would also be the ability to use the moon as a spaceport to get to deep space.
According to Izvestia, the report also suggested that, due to the high cost of such a project, there would be some private investment.
Though there has been talk about the United States revisiting the moon, NASA has yet to unveil any concrete plans.
The last man to walk on the moon was U.S. astronaut Eugene Cernan, during the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972.
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