The Russians want to build a huge MILITARY moon base.

It looks like the Russians have plans to go where no man has gone before and are planning on making themselves a base on the moon.

Maybe when they get there they can settle the debate, once and for all, about whether the US ever actually managed to get there.

Russia's President Announces Plan for Moon Base

Now, as Russia marks the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s historic flight, there may be grounds for reevaluating that assessment. President Obama has fundamentally altered the role of NASA in the future of manned space flight, even as private companies are independently developing launch vehicles that could serve a wide variety of private or public missions. (In fact, SpaceX recently announced it plans to build the large booster since the Apollo program’s Saturn V.)

Russia is continuing to developed its manned space program, and has now announced that it is planning to build a moon base by 2030. As Terrence Aym wrote for Helium.com:

While the US has reduced its national space program to skeletal proportions—and is now picking at the bones—Russia has announced an aggressive plan to build a huge base on the Moon.
During festivities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first human ever to reach space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed Russia would have a moonbase.
The promise came on the heels of a Kremlin press release that stated, in part, "Above all, we are talking about flights to the moon and the creation of a base close to its north pole where there is likely to be a source of water," it explained. "This could be achieved close to 2030."

The New American


It looks like their ambitions don't stop there; they see a moon base as a stepping stone on the way to mars. They plan to exploit the moon for helium 3 and intend to establish a MILITARY presence on the moon.

Helium-3 has been discovered on the Moon is significant quantities. H-3 is a form of the element that can be used as an efficient material to fuel future fusion reactors.

Fusion power—the underlying nuclear power source of the stars—has been a dream of physicists and nuclear engineers for almost a century. Fusion could provide a cheap, clean, almost inexhaustible energy source to a world with energy needs growing exponentially.

Other than their announced intention to seek ways to mine Helium-3 on the Moon, an element needed for advanced nuclear fusion reactors, the Kremlin also sees a large moonbase as strategic to their long term national security.

The Russian space program is military, not civilian, based.

Helium.com

Could this spur the US into another space race or are we too broke to even try?

Interesting thread.

Helium-3 has been discovered on the Moon is significant quantities. H-3 is a form of the element that can be used as an efficient material to fuel future fusion reactors. Fusion power—the underlying nuclear power source of the stars—has been a dream of physicists and nuclear engineers for almost a century. Fusion could provide a cheap, clean, almost inexhaustible energy source to a world with energy needs growing exponentially.

Aside from the massive military advantage a moon base would offer, the moons natural resources are mind boggling.

great!....so does this mean they start fracking the freakn moon?.....thats all we need is to eff with the one thing
that helps control our gravitation.......Jesus tits!

I imagine after we have strip mined and raped this planet of all she's got, the moon is next on the hitlist.

I would venture to say whomever has future control over the moon and it's resources would have control over all.
Making a new space race very likely, and not just between the U.S and Russia but also China, India and the private sector as well.

Nice thread FA.. S&F. Topic is of great interest to me: An old related thread theory:
Yet Another Moon Theory

I had always felt a mining operation to process the moon's purported vast source of Helium-3 for the purpose of non radioactive fusion would have played a vital part in developing a safer, cleaner energy resource.

But I was always shot down by critics that argued the cost of returning said fuel back to Earth poses cost effectiveness issues with current propulsion schemes.

In short: Uses more energy to get it back to Earth than it would generate.

Nonetheless, should be a great thread, looking forward to it.

the moon is a floating dead rock. under international law no nation can claim the moon. all they are doing is mining.

they have every right. to bad america is so broke they can't afford to launch the space shuttle, let alone colonize the moon.

i predict the russians are going to install a 150ft flag pole with the russian flag so big any decent walmart telescope will be able to pick it up.

Originally posted by randomname
the moon is a floating dead rock. under international law no nation can claim the moon. all they are doing is mining.

It is my understanding The Moon Treaty was never ratified.

Thereby defunct / void. I could be wrong though.

They also recently planted a flag at the bottom of the arctic ocean laying claim to any land moved up there from plate techtonics lol

OMG if they build a base on the moon we need to nuke their base immediately!

Well they will need bigger rockets. One of the main obstacles of the Russian space program of the 60's and why the moon was beyond their reach was they didn't have a rocket with the lifting capacity to haul the crew and a landing craft. Russia was very good at cramming humans in small crafts into space while lacking in a safe return to earth plan accordingly a safe lunar landing craft for humans.

So I'm not holding my breath that all of a sudden Russia will gather the resources to land any sizable craft on the moon with enough equipment to actually live in and mine with, regardless of this helium 3 resource.

America are sure going to see this as a threat and fighting talk, I bet The White House are rolling up their sleeves as we speak in preperation for a counter, unless they already have one....

...under the counter, so to speak

Originally posted by kinda kurious

I had always felt a mining operation to process the moon's purported vast source of Helium-3 for the purpose of non radioactive fusion would have played a vital part in developing a safer, cleaner energy resource.

But I was always shot down by critics that argued the cost of returning said fuel back to Earth poses cost effectiveness issues with current propulsion schemes.

In short: Uses more energy to get it back to Earth than it would generate.

We have to keep in mind that technology today is light-years ahead of the tech we had last time someone set foot on the moon, so it should be much easier for them to do it this time around.

Also, if energy prices keep rising at the rate they are now, the argument that it would not be profitable will probably not be the case in 20 years. The idea of building a moon base just for the military and NOT bringing anything back would seem to be the greatest waste of money IMO.

Military functions in space are going to be somewhat limited. There's a startling lack of targets, for one. Though I suppose one could make "rods from god" launchers on the moon (and mine the moon for more ammunition) - the entire prospect is a little premature.

The needs and objectives of a military in space would follow the dynamics of industrial ventures into space and the conflicts over resources that arise. Without those first in place - a military presence could only be there for research and as a show of force, really.

Although I have my doubts that the Russians will achieve their goal - it is certainly possible we will see an explosion of the private-sector space ventures within the next decade, and many industrialized nations would begin to piggy-back their military capability on top of the free-market development.

Although the very expense of setting up such military operations would likely open up the market for Private Military Contractors and make them dominant in extraplanetary affairs.

Wow. Though i'm quite skeptical it will happen by 2030. As for the helium 3, can you're imagine the hold Russia would have over us if they got this and we're able to transfer it efficiently?!
Still, pretty exciting stuff, and though to me 2030 seems unrealistic, I hope there will be a moon base in my lifetime.

they gotta get the aliens on the dark side of the moon off first

Originally posted by FortAnthem
We have to keep in mind that technology today is light-years ahead of the tech we had last time someone set foot on the moon, so it should be much easier for them to do it this time around.

Fair enough, but I'll play devil's advocate. What current space vehicle technology has the ability to carry tons of processed material back to earth and then return for more? Is their some sort of space dump truck I'm unaware of? But seriously, are you postulating the material could be processed and then converted on site (the moon) and then the energy 'beamed' back to earth? Just kurious.

Originally posted by kinda kurious
What current space vehicle technology has the ability to carry tons of processed material back to earth and then return for more?