Russia floats joint moon base(s) W/NASA & ESA

[Dr Mordrid]

Not a hop out, take a walk and go home mission, but permanently manned base(s).

http://en.rian.ru/science/20120119/170840782.html

Roscosmos Revives Permanent Moon Base Plans

Russian Space Agency Roscosmos is in talks with its European and U.S. partners on the creation of manned research bases on the Moon, the agencies chief, Vladimir Popovkin, said on Thursday.

"We don't want the man to just step on the Moon," Popovkin said in an interview with Vesti FM radio station.

"Today, we know enough about it, we know that there is water in its polar areas," he said, adding "we are now discussing how to begin [the Moon's] exploration with NASA and the European Space Agency ."

There are two options, he said: "either to set up a base on the Moon or to launch a station to orbit around it."

The project of a "prospective manned transportation system" to be sent to the Moon is currently being developed, the Roscosmos chief said.

The Moon base project seems to revive Cold War-era plans to create a permanent outpost on the Moon, which was talked about by some Soviet and U.S. scientists since the late 1950s.

Russia is also planning to send two unmanned missions to the Moon by 2020, the Luna Glob and the Luna Resource, Popovkin added.

[Brian Ellis]

And there was I thinking the USA and Europe were a little short of ready cash

[Umfriend]

Ah well, talking and thinking does not cost much (unless it's the EU and/or Italian parlement).

[Dr Mordrid]

And there was I thinking the USA and Europe were a little short of ready cash

The pieces are falling into place -

The US is funding the $38B Space Launch System booster good for 75-130 metric tons to orbit, the $6-8B Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for deep space, and they're working on a modular habitat/transfer vehicle. They are also working with Masten Aerospace on tech for a modular re-usable lander.

The SpaceX team has Falcon Heavy (32- 53 metric tons, 80 tons later) under construction for a late 2012-early 2013 maiden flight, and is ramping up to FalconX (80-160 metric tons) and the Dragon crew vehicle which is also deep space capable.

Bigelow Aerospace just finished their inflatable habitat factory and is waiting for the new generation of crew vehicles to arrive. Each module = 330 cubic meters. NASA administrator Gen. Charles Bolden visited there last week.

ESA is working on turning their ATV cargo spacecraft into a medium size habitat/mission module for deep space missions.

Russia is working on Angara, a new family of medium to heavy boosters.