Russian Firm Proposes $9.4B Moonbase for Mining

a reply to: lostbook

The only remaining obstacle as far as I know would be the Regolith problem. I hear that it's a real nuisance.

Yeah the wear and tear alone on suits and equipment will be a problem in itself. The only way I can think of to keep it out of living environments would be a washdown after the airlock but I am sure they have thought of that or something better.

a reply to: ShayneJUK

That Russian plan is about as much of a "pie-in-the-sky" plan as our recently announced plans to send manned flights to Mars around 2020. However, rather than call such plans "pipe dreams"--if I can use another old metaphor, should we not wonder if such talk from people that should know better is a way of "ice breaking" (oops!) to get our people and theirs "up to speed" with such high falutin' concepts of what will eventually happen or maybe is happening by using exotic equipment in the very near future?

At one point NASA had in mind that a slingshot method of sending packets of ore to earth was the cheapest method to use. I would image that there would be a lot of flack about such a method. After all, that would be like flinging a artificial asteroid back toward the surface. Who would want that?

a reply to: Aliensun


INDEED, the authors of this enterprise concept is out-Capitalism(ing) the 'free world'...
it is actually pointing out the paradigm switch (role reversals) between the USSA & Russia since the moon-race era

putting together an actual master plan of developing this moon-base-mining enterprise will out shine Tesla Cars or Virgin/Galactic space trips or even orbiting hotels in low earth orbit sprung from the minds of western Capitalists




as for the $9.4 billion price tag.... that would require a fully automated operation with robots..
no human repair people required...it will be cheaper to send replacements that are preprogrammed onto that matrix of production efforts...the remote operators and 2nd echelon providers would be here on Earth, themselves being only technicians rather than people with Robotics Doctorate degrees

If it were an American company I doubt government permission would be needed for a privately funded Moon mission. I wonder what sort of tensions a mining camp on the Moon might bring Lin Industrial with the science associations and other groups interested in going there. There are currently no ownership claims on the Moon, so it's sorta like Antarctica, a no-man's-land. At the end of the day though when it is all said and done it comes down to who is up there in the flesh, not on paper.

a reply to: lostbook

With Russia's economy Loosing 400 billion in just a few short months of last year and continuing sanctions and oil price drops I'd say not a chance, Russia is in recession and soon a deep depression looms if continued

Secondly Russia doesn't have the tech, they're a shadow of there former self especially to the Soviet Union... Only in Putins and Russia lovers pathetic tiny minds is Russia a world power today

I'd love to See a moon base established, but not one full of Russian mafia and dinosaur communists

COOL let THEM go first ...and deal with ALL the usneen issues and piggy back off THEIR science this time.