Putin announced a flight to Mars in 2019
Vladimir Putin announced that Russia plans to send manned and unmanned missions to Mars as early as 2019. He also plans to send missions to the moon and deeper into space. If this were to happen, the Russians would be ahead of both NASA and Elon Musk.
If a manned mission to Mars were successful, the Russians would be there years before SpaceX’s scheduled launch of its mission (ktora predicts sending humans to the Red Planet in 2024) and NASA (in the 2030s). Earlier, in 2020, NASA plans to send another unmanned mission to Mars in search of a trace ofoin microbial life.
Elon Musk – The head of SpaceX said recently that he plans to start testing rockets capable of taking a rideolife to Mars a little earlier than expected, conducting the first test flights in 2019. In the same year Putin already intends to fly there.
Russian president announced his plans to conquer space in a TV interview. „We plan to start unmanned and then manned launches into space, as part of the lunar program and Mars exploration. The upcoming mission will already wkrotce, and a mission to Mars is planned to start as early as 2019” – Putin said as reported by Russian news agency Russia Today.
Putin also revealed some detailedolow regarding lunar missions. Plans include a test landing on the Moon’s south pole in 2019. According to sloin Putin, the Russians are also testing technology thatora could be used in the construction of a permanent lunar base. „Our specialists sproThey are going to land near the poleow, as there is evidence that water can be expected there. We will be able to conduct research there. From there, exploration of other planets and distant space could also begin” – added.
Russia’s president was economical in detailos about future missions and despite what mowi, a Russian mission to Mars in the near future appears to be a pipe dream. No one has heard of preparations for the subrory to Mars. To date, the only planned mission to the Red Planet, in which theorej the Russians are taking part, is ExoMars. ExoMars involves sending a dwoch roverow. This wspolne venture of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roskosmos. Therefore, one of the Martian roversow will be of European production, and the other will be created by Roskosmos.
The latest proba to send a probe to Mars in 2011 by Roskosmos ended in a spectacular flop. The Phobos-Grunt probe was scheduled to land on one of the moon’soin Mars – Phobos. However, it did not leave Earth’s orbit. Due to a malfunction, the probe became stuck in low Earth orbit and then burned up in the atmosphere.
Putin’s statement should also be placed in the context of the electionoin Russia. The interview was recorded even before the election, whichore held there this weekend.