Russia is planning to colonize the moon with humans by 2030. The draft of a three-stage government lunar program planning to colonize the moon was spotted by the Russian daily Izvestiya. The concept sets a goal to build a Moon-based manned station and facility aimed to extract local resources. The blueprint was elaborated by the Russian Academy of Sciences (Academician Lev Zeleny, the Chief of the Space research institute, in particular), Moscow State University, the Roscosmos federal space agency, and various space research companies.
Like in previous projects, the new draft sets out the necessity of the international cooperation, though highlighting that the “independence of the national lunar program must be ensured regardless of the conditions and the extent of the participation in it by foreign partners.” It is known that the lunar substance contains aluminum, iron, titanium, rare metals, and other valuable minerals of high strategic importance. After the geological exploration is completed, the research group is supposed to work out a feasibility study on extracting, processing, and delivering the lunar resources to Earth. Russia hopes to attract private investors to fund the project. The Moon exploration program is divided into three stages until 2040. At the early stage, several interplanetary stations are to be sent to the Moon in 2015-2025. These craft are supposed to select the most suitable area in the Southern Pole of the Moon to build the station and facility. The first manned missions to orbit the Moon are scheduled for 2028-2030. Meanwhile, the transport piloted spacecraft is being designed at OAO S.P. Korolyov Rocket and Space Corporation Energia. At the third stage in 2030-2040, astronauts are to land on the Moon surface to set up the infrastructure for the lunar facility; besides, the first batches of the lunar substance are to be extracted. The first stage of the program is estimated at about $816 million, but the overall cost of the mission is uncertain. The Roscosmos federal space agency specified that all drafts filed to the Federal space program have to be assessed by the expert panel. Then, the project will be submitted for the government’s consideration.