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[size=34]Russia and Europe to launch joint mission to dark side of Moon, then build base there[/size]
Published time: 18 Oct, 2015 17:50
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The European Space Agency (ESA) is set to join Russia’s ambitious plan to colonize the Moon, with an announcement that it will provide key tech for a planned exploration mission in 2020, and possibly help construct a permanent outpost.
Announced by Russia’s space agency Roscosmos last November, Luna 27 is a robotic lander that will land in the South Pole–Aitken basin, a giant crater on the dark side of the Moon, and prospect it for resources that could be utilized by future moon-dwellers.

An earlier blueprint for Luna 27 © Roscosmos
"The south pole of the Moon is unlike anywhere we have been before," James Carpenter, ESA’s lead scientist on the projecttold the BBC earlier this week. "The environment is completely different, and due to the extreme cold there you could find large amounts of water-ice and other chemistry which is on the surface, and which we could access and use as rocket fuel or in life-support systems to support future human missions we think will go to these locations."

An ESA sketch of a lunar lander. © ESA
For the mission, ESA is expected to supply Pilot, a landing system that uses laser guidance and a set of sophisticated cameras to pick the best spot for exploration, and a revolutionary drill that will burrow 2 meters under the surface. The Europeans will also construct an on-board lab that can immediately analyze the samples.

Micro-satellite to inspect if Americans did land on Moon https://t.co/IrbCict72Xpic.twitter.com/awz0SKZoIq
— RT (@RT_com) October 11, 2015

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Although scientists and engineers are already working on blueprints for the project, European officials will only ratify their involvement in Luna 27 in late 2016.
Roscosmos’ lead scientist on the project, Igor Mitrofanov, has called on ESA to buy into Russia’s endeavor.
"We have to go to the Moon. The 21st Century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilization. Our country has to participate in this process, and we have to do it together with our international colleagues,” the professor at the Space Research Institute in Moscow told the BBC.
READ MORE: Space duo: Russia invites China to create joint lunar station
Whatever results it yields, Luna 27 is just a test of cooperation between the space agencies, and a step towards bigger goals.
Previously, ESA observed Russia’s plans to land a manned expedition on the Moon by 2030, followed by the construction of a permanent base, as well as an orbiting outpost, with distant curiosity.

A proposed ESA design of a lunar base © fosterandpartners.com
But ESA’s new chief Johann-Dietrich Woerner, who has been in his post since July, is a passionate advocate of Moon colonization, and has himself outlined proposals for a international space village that echoes Russia’s vision.
"We have an ambition to have European astronauts on the Moon. There are currently discussions at international level going on for broad cooperation on how to go back to the Moon," said Berengere Houdou, who heads the lunar exploration group at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (Estec).
But ambitious as it seems today, a Moon base is in itself a dry run for a more solid, systematic exploration of space than humankind has attempted thus far.
"It will be for astronomical observation, for the utilization of minerals and other lunar resources and to create an outpost that can be visited by cosmonauts working together as a test bed for their future flight to Mars," said Mitrofanov.
"This whole series of missions feels like the beginning of the return to the Moon but it is also starting something new in terms of overall exploration of the Solar System," said Richard Fisackerly, ESA’s lead engineer on Luna 27.[/size]

zanimljivo..u svakom slucaju objektivnije nego Mars

Pun mi je mjesec punog mjeseca.  Danas je baš luduje. 

dudette wrote:Danas je baš luduje. 

Izražajno djelovanje punog mjeseca bilo je puno...

sta je bilo dudsy  budi dobra ili cu te zalediti 

http://spaceref.com/nasa-hack-space/advances-in-cryopreservation-thinking-about-interstellar-travel.html

Winter is coming wrote:sta je bilo dudsy  budi dobra ili cu te zalediti 

http://spaceref.com/nasa-hack-space/advances-in-cryopreservation-thinking-about-interstellar-travel.html

Cryopreserve me now! 

[size=40]Space Fuel: Plutonium-238 Created After 30-Year Wait
by Jeanna Bryner, Live Science Managing Editor   |   December 30, 2015 08:11am ET[/size]


 

 

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[url=http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A//www.livescience.com/53227-plutonium-238-created-for-space-fuel.html%3Fcmpid%3D514627_20151230_56823016%26adbid%3D10153164962071761%26adbpl%3Dfb%26adbpr%3D30478646760&media=http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/080/398/original/plutonium-238.jpg?1451443092&description=Scientists mixed neptunium oxide with aluminum and pressed the result into pellets. They then irradiated the pellets to create neptunium-238%2C which decayed quickly into plutonium-238.][/url]Scientists mixed neptunium oxide with aluminum and pressed the result into pellets. They then irradiated the pellets to create neptunium-238, which decayed quickly into plutonium-238. Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory View full size image

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Scientists have produced a powder of plutonium-238 for the first time in nearly 30 years in the United States, a milestone that they say sets the country on a path toward powering NASA's deep-space exploration and other missions.
Plutonium-238 (Pu-238) is a radioactive element, and as it decays, or breaks down into uranium-234, it releases heat. That heat can then be used as a power source; for instance, some 30 space missions, including the Voyager spacecraft, which explored the solar system's outer planets in the 1970s, have relied on the oxide form of the plutonium isotope. (An isotope is atom of an element with a different number of neutrons.)
During the Cold War, the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina was pumping out Pu-238. "Those reactors were shut down in 1988, and the U.S. has not had the capability to make new material since then," said Bob Wham, who leads the project for the Nuclear Security and Isotope Technology Division at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). [8 Rare Elements That You've Never Heard Of]


After U.S. production of the isotope stopped, Russia supplied the Pu-238 needed for space missions. However, Russia has also stopped producing the material. Two years ago, NASA began funding a new effort to produce plutonium-238, giving about $15 million a year to the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy.
Plutonium-238 is an ideal power source for space missions for several reasons, including the element's so-called half-life of about 88 years. Half-life is the time it takes for half of the atoms of an element to decay. That means the isotope's heat output won't be reduced to half for 88 years. Plutonium-239, which has a half-life of 24,110 years, is the isotope most commonly formed from uranium in nuclear reactors, according to the World Nuclear Association.
In addition, "it's stable at high temperatures, can generate substantial heat in small amounts and emits relatively low levels of radiation that is easily shielded, so mission-critical instruments and equipment are not affected," Wham said.
In the new achievement, Wham and his colleagues created 50 grams (1.8 ounces) of Pu-238 — about one-eighth of a cup (30 milliliters) — or enough to characterize the substance, he said.
Because the scientists were using existing infrastructure at the Department of Energy, they needed to adapt the plutonium-making process. "For example, the current DOE operating research reactors are smaller than those used at Savannah River," Wham said. "Therefore, we need to modify the technology to work within the existing operating reactors."
Next, the scientists will test the purity of the sample and work on scaling up the manufacturing process.
"Once we automate and scale up the process, the nation will have a long-range capability to produce radioisotope power systems such as those used by NASA for deep-space exploration," Wham said.
The next NASA mission with a plan to use such radioisotope power isthe Mars 2020 rover, set for launch in July 2020, the researchers said. The rover will be designed to look for signs of life on the Red Planet, collect rock and soil samples for testing on Earth, and investigate technology for human exploration.[/size]

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11:57 14.01.2016Get short URL
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Russian federal agency Roscosmos plans to develop a natural-gas-powered rocket engine. The federal space exploration program for 2016-2025 guarantees funding for the project.

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Russian Proton-M Carrier Rocket With Express-AMU1 Satellite Launched
According to the newspaper, under a special R&D project on propulsion engines, Russia will develop the structural elements of an oxyhydrogen-powered rocket engine. Roscosmos is reported to be ready to unveil over 25 billion rubles ($326 million), however not the entire sum will be spent on a methane-powered engine.

The project also includes developing prototypes of new-generation liquid-fueled rocker engines equipped with diagnostics and protection systems as well as structural elements from composite materials.
"We plan to build a methane-powered engine prototype even though a rocket-carrier equipped with it is not in development so far. It would be a stepping stone for our future projects, and it would help us compete with foreign rivals. Currently, the plan is developing a medium-thrust engine for the second stage of a future rocket," a source close to the initiative told Russian newspaper Izvestia.
The initial plan was to install a methane-powered engine on the new Feniks rocket. However, later the budget was adjusted and the idea was abandoned in favor of restoring the Zenit project, equipped with a modernized RD-171 engine.


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SpaceX May Launch Falcon 9 Rocket Carrying Satellites on December 20
As a whole, the project is an important part of Russia’s efforts to create a low-cost, easy-to-maintainreturnable rocket. The new booster could cut costs of space transportation thanks to its reliance on new engines powered by environmentally safe and widely available propellant made of cryogenically cooled natural gas (or methane) instead of traditional kerosene fuel.

In Russia, research into methane propulsion was led by Chemical Automatics Design Bureau, based in the city of Voronezh, and began in 1995. It was established that the replacement of kerosene fuel with liquefied natural gas could produce a higher specific impulse, one of the key characteristic of a rocket engine. What is more, methane was estimated to cost up to 30 times less than kerosene.
In addition, the development of a methane-powered propulsion system would not require any new major infrastructure or newly qualified personnel.
Finally, liquid methane and its combustion products would be environmentally safer.[/size]


Read more: http://sputniknews.com/science/20160114/1033109758/russian-methane-engine.html#ixzz3xGYQPfs2

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