Russia - Energia designing Martian expedition spacecraft
Moscow: The Energia Aerospace Corporation is designing a Martian expedition spacecraft, which may be launched in 2020-2030, corporation head Nikolai Sevastyanov told a Tuesday press conference. “We are using technologies tested over the past decades, including electric engines of telecom satellites. Large solar batteries were tested onboard the Mir orbiting station. The new expedition spacecraft with extensive reserves of fuel – xenon – will be capable of delivering manned expeditions to Mars,” he said. New elements will also have to be designed, including a takeoff and landing module on the Martian surface, Sevastyanov said. The project will be implemented in three steps, he said.
A Martian expedition spacecraft will be designed and tested in a flight to the Moon. The spacecraft will be put into a circumlunar orbit and then returned to a circumterrestrial orbit. Then the manned spacecraft will fly to Mars. It is not planned for the crew to land on the planet at first, but rovers will go down and test the crew’s future return from Mars to the spacecraft. Eventually, the crew will land on Mars, an Energia source said. Soyuz FG AND proton rockets will deliver spacecraft elements to orbit before 2010, and modernized Soyuz 2 and new Angara rockets will be used later on. Soyuz manned spaceships and Progress freighters will be servicing the project until 2015, and Klippers will be used afterwards.
The first expedition to Mars will be made in 2020-2030.
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