[extropy-chat] Mars on the cheap?

[BillK]

Nobody seems to have mentioned that after the Bush plan for NASA to go
to Mars was announced, the Russians put their hand up and said that they
could do it a lot cheaper than NASA.

<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=10&u=/ap/20040115/ap_on_sc/russia_us_space>

Mikhailichenko said Russia's giant Energiya booster rocket, with a
payload of about 100 metric tons (110 tons), could be useful for moon
and interplanetary missions. The Energiya program has been dormant in
recent years due to the money crunch and the lack of suitable mission.

Mikhailichenko said Energiya launching facilities have been preserved at
Baikonur, Russia's launching base for manned space flights.

Meanwhile, Russian space designers said they could quickly develop
spacecraft for both moon and Mars missions if they have money.

Roald Kremnev, a deputy head of NPO Lavochkin company which built the
Soviet Lunokhod rover that traipsed across the moon in 1970, said it
could build its successor in mere two or three years for just 600
million rubles (US$21 million), ITAR-Tass reported.

Another space designer, Leonid Gorshkov of the RKK Energiya company that
builds Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, says it has designed a spacecraft
which can carry a crew to Mars as early as 2014 for US$15 billion.

Gorshkov told ITAR-Tass that the 70-metric ton (77-ton) spacecraft
modelled on the Russian Zvezda (news - web sites) module for the ISS
could be assembled in orbit from components delivered by Proton booster
rockets.

End Quote


At these prices there are some billionaires around who could fund their
own space program, even if NASA still require billions to do it their way.

BillK