Rogozin changed his mind about sending expeditions to the moon and Mars

Dmitry Rogozin. Photo: Gennady Gulyaev / Kommersant

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the military-industrial complex and space, expressed doubt about the need for Russia to fly to the moon and Mars. “We are told by some experts, including those from Roscosmos - they flew to the moon, let's explore it. I used to like this idea myself. But now we need to calculate how much it will cost money. What are our real goals on the moon, what minerals are there - it must be assumed that we have a little money now, and we are in a hostile environment, ”Rogozin stated on the Vesti-24 channel.

He also outlined the relationship to the plans for the exploration of Mars. “Once again I say: let's take it. NASA is interested in Mars. Although I doubt it - well, they will fly there, prove that their astronauts can land on Mars. So what's next? And what specific tasks we can solve on Mars - we must think, ”concluded the Deputy Prime Minister.

In April 2014, Rogozin named the “Russian newspaper”Three strategic challenges facing Russia in the space sector: “expanding our presence in low Earth orbits and moving from their development to use; exploration with subsequent colonization of the moon and the lunar space; preparation and start of the exploration of Mars and other objects of the solar system. " Words sounded that our country "is doomed to become a great cosmic power." Then, in June, during a round table held as part of the First Russian-Chinese Expo exhibition, he announced Russia's readiness to cooperate with China in the exploration of Mars and the Moon. And I already wrote that in early December a rather large-scale project on the colonization of the moon was sent to the Russian government for approval. Unfortunately, it seems that in the light of recent economic events, expansion into space seems to be delayed indefinitely.