Russia Will Build Moon Base Manned by Robot Avatars

[Carmen Elsa Irarragorri Wyland]

Russia Will Build Moon Base Manned by Robot Avatars

Last week, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced ambitious plans to establish a long-term base on the moon, with the country aiming to land on the lunar surface within the next two decades.

Now, Roscosmos administrator Dimitry Rogozin has said that the base will be managed by a technological system that sounds like it's been lifted straight out of a sci-fi film. According to Rogozin, the system will involve humans on Earth operating robot avatars which will carry out tasks on the moon’s surface.

“We’re talking about creating a long-term base, not constantly manned, but visitable,” Rogozin told state-run news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

He added that the project will be larger than the U.S. Apollo program, which landed astronauts on the moon in the 60s and early 70s across a series of missions, RT reported.

While Rogozin didn’t reveal any details of how exactly the robotics system will work, the plans bring to mind James Cameron’s blockbuster "Avatar" which was set on Pandora—a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system populated by a humanoid race known as the Na’vi.

To explore Pandora, scientists in the film use Na’vi-human hybrids known as “avatars” which are operated remotely.

Russia is aiming to land a cosmonaut on the lunar surface by 2030, however, Rogozin didn’t specify how much time it would be between the start of manned flights to the moon and the creation of a fully-fledged base.

Rogozin did reveal a couple of other ideas, however. He told RIA Novosti that Roscosmos was going to explore the possibility of using lunar soil as a resource which could be used to 3D-print new parts and repair equipment, negating the need for costly resupplies from Earth.

Roscosmos has outlined a multi-step plan toward landing cosmonauts on the moon. Its final stage envisages humans using local resources to set up the infrastructure of a moon base.

Leading up to the manned moon landing however, the Russian space agency will conduct a series of missions preparing for the return of humans to the lunar surface.

One of these missions, called Luna 27, is being developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). It will aim to send a lander to an unexplored area of the moon’s South Pole.

NASA also has its sights set on the moon. The U.S. space agency is developing a plan for Americans to orbit the moon starting in 2023, and land astronauts on the surface no later than the late 2020s.

According to NASA, a key component of establishing the first permanent American presence and infrastructure on and around the Moon is the Gateway, a lunar orbiting platform designed to host astronauts farther from Earth than ever before. This will be developed in collaboration with Roscosmos, alongside the ESA as well as the Japanese and Canadian space agencies.

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