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Russia's Moon And Mars Exploration Ambitions Hobbled By A Lack Of Money (phys.org) 114

Posted by BeauHD from the spare-some-change dept.
MarkWhittington writes: Phys.Org reports that the ambitions of the Russian Space Agency continue to exceed its financial wherewithal to carry them out. A Russian rocket is due to launch the first element of the European ExoMars program, which consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter and the Italian-built Schiaparelli lander, in March. Both are due to arrive at Mars in October. After that, Russia's space exploration plans are a bit hazy, hobbled by a lack of money.
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Russia's Moon And Mars Exploration Ambitions Hobbled By A Lack Of Money More

Russia's Moon And Mars Exploration Ambitions Hobbled By A Lack Of Money

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  • So... (Score:5, Funny)

    by pushing-robot ( 1037830 ) on Sunday February 21, 2016 @12:47PM (#51552547)

    Basically like everything else in the world?

    • All they need is another cold war .
    • There's actually more than enough money to do many things in this world. What is lacking is simply the will to commit oneself to it.
      • Still, there is not enough money to all those things at the same time. Choices will have to be made.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by murdocj ( 543661 )

          I wish I had points to mod you up as you deserve.

        • Invade Crimea and Ukraine, or go to Mars?

          Apparently, they did not pick Mars...

          • Going to Mars is a toy project that has no relevance to daily life of ordinary Russians. Invading Crimea does.

            • Going to Mars is a toy project that has no relevance to daily life of ordinary Russians. Invading Crimea does.

              Other than getting the "Got shot invading Crimea: Achievement Unlocked" badge, what exactly is the relevance to the daily life of ordinary Russians?

              • A large percentage of the residents of Crimea were already Russian citizens, so it obviously had relevance to them.

                • A large percentage of the residents of Crimea were already Russian citizens, so it obviously had relevance to them.

                  They were on vacation there. Or they were expatriates, trying to escape Russian rule. So yeah, you got me on that. It mattered to the residents of Crimea, who had, as a majority, voted for Ukrainian rule.

                  It mattered to Russia to have a warm-water port to ship oil from, given that their oil pipie line in Afghanistan has been endangered since "The War On Terror" first landed boots in Afghanistan.

                  But mattering to Russian Oligarchs is a far cry from mattering "to daily life of ordinary Russians", unless thos

                  • Still, going to Mars would have mattered much less.

        • Money is most certainly not "the problem" of this planet. As far as I can see, there are only choices between stock traders (wages) and farmers (third world) or ordinary people (workers, employees).

          Money is the very least thing to consider, especially if you know that 1% of the world population legally owns 99% of the "wealth" of the planet.

          Ah, you did not know that? And I might be off by 10% ... oops, my fault, 10% in both ways: 11% of the planets population own 89% of the planets wealth. Does that look be

      • Forcing your will and projects on others is exactly how revolutions get started.

        American economy beat Russian economy as there wasn't one person deciding things, but distribution system based on need as determined who could pay for it. While not a perfect system, it allowed flexibility and growth far beyond other systems. It drove down cost of manufacturing while increasing distribution.

        By forcing one goal, you alienate those who don't believe in that goal. The last American president who pushed us to o

        • Did Apollo force things onto others? Are there many important people-killing projects in the US right now, standing in the way of decarbonization, funding of useful peaceful scientific and technological research, or space exploration?

          • Actually Apollo forced a lot of excessive spending, it was tolerated because it also enhanced people killing, and pushed scientific knowledge.

            Also people killing projects are a nessecary evil. Not everyone gets along. Some will force their will on others through violent means. Just look at how Isis controls it's villages after it takes over. You have to fight against the worst of people.

            Also those people killing projects often come up with peaceful uses afterwards. The US Navy wants to convert sea al

            • We already know how to synthesize hydrocarbons; we don't need US Navy research for that. And a civilian case for paying for that research exists: not wiping out most of mankind with climate change. Which makes it a fine example of yet another case of weak spirit.

            • (This disappeared from my comment for some strange reason) Also, wasn't ISIS more or less a US creation? Invasion of Iraq, Camp Bucca, etc.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Money is an illusion, a false created premise meant to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. This how now been totally corrupted by psychopaths who should be in prison, where made up money is now a resource, seriously making up pretend money is supposedly a planetary resource the illusion fabricated by the psychopaths in charge.

        The exploration of space and humanity becoming a galactic species, should not be about the allocation of illusions it should be about the allocation of resources, real re

        • Money is an illusion

          Money can be traded for resources or labor, neither of which are illusions.

          The exploration of space and humanity becoming a galactic species

          Those are two completely different things. A bit of puttering around in the solar system isn't going to turn us into a galactic species. In fact, without discovering a magic propulsion system, we will never be a galactic species. And our best (albeit tiny) bet of finding such a magical propulsion is doing raw science right here on Earth, not by trying to walk around in the inhospitable deserts of Mars.

  • Surprised they haven't resorted to the way ever other person does...GoFundMe. ;)
  • Lack of money has also delayed my trip to the Sun.
  • They dont have money to go to the moon but they have money to fund war

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tomhath ( 637240 )
      Because the money they do have comes from oil producing regions uncomfortably close the the war they are funding.

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by BarbaraHudson ( 3785311 )

      They dont have money to go to the moon but they have money to fund war

      You sure you're talking only about Russia now?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sycodon ( 149926 )

      Russia has untold amounts of conventional weapons left over from the cold war.

      Up until recently, their biggest cost would be for Jet fuel. Now it's just the cost of feeding their poorly paid troops.

      • Up until recently, their biggest cost would be for Jet fuel.

        Is that really the case? Surely their internal prices for oil products are still the same. About the most accurate characterization of their new situation is that they don't lose export money now by not exporting fuel and by burning it in their own vehicles.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      We need war on the moon. :P

  • Hard to make money when you don't make anything regular consumers want. I don't need an ICBM or a tanker full of oil. How about some furniture or other household goods, or clothing? I would buy Russian goods if they were viable and available.
    • You don't drink vodka?
      • Not anymore. Some folks just aren't made to consume alcohol and I am one of them. Always starts out good, then somewhere along the line I blackout and then I need to start another thread about it. At least I figured it out before I became a road stain. I admit I kinda forgot about the Vodka, BUT, the point still stands. They need to make some goods.

  • russia may be broke to do space right, but at least they are still able actually send people to space, unlike some other countries.

  • That's because they're busy trying to reconquer the Warsaw Pact.
  • All my plans for world domination is hobbled by the same thing. Lack of money.
  • May I have 2 billion rubles for gas?

  • Can't they just beg for money on craigslist, like everyone else does?

  • They can clearly afford to spare the plans for later. Once Saudi Arabia will have driven North America's tar sand business to bankrupt, they will rise oil prices again, and Russia will have money for space exploration.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xest ( 935314 )

      "Once Saudi Arabia will have driven North America's tar sand business to bankrupt, they will rise oil prices again, and..." ...and North America's tar sand business will become financially viable again and the infrastructure to exploit it such as roads, and pipelines, will already be in place meaning it'll be cheap to start back up!

      Really, the only way out of this is economic diversification. Until exploitable oil available decreases prices are never going to go back up because to keep those North American

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