A group of Russian space experts have announced an ambitious plan to send...
A group of Russian space experts have announced an ambitious plan to send a six-man crew to Mars within a decade, a project it said would cost only US$3-5 billion. Some Russian space officials dismissed the project as nonsense.
A researcher at the Central Research Institute for Machine-Building, Russia's premier authority on space equipment design, said it would carry out the project with funding promised by Aerospace Systems, a little-known private Russian company that says it draws no resources from the state budget.
The program envisions six people traveling to Mars and exploring it for several months before returning to Earth. The expedition is designed to last three years in all, and would depend on a fully equipped spacecraft containing its own garden, medical facilities and other amenities.
Georgy Uspensky, a department head at the institute, said that the comparatively small budget for the program reflected plans to use already existing spacecraft.
"This will be our first flight ... we will fly on what we have," Uspensky said.
