Numerous meetings and exhibits are being held throughout Russia in this Space Week to celebrate Russia’s contributions to space exploration since Sputnik and to discuss future plans for Russia in space. While there are no human missions to the Moon on the immediate agenda for Russia at the moment, there is intense activity in lunar research, with several missions including a rover and sample-return planned for the 2030s. “The lunar program will help maintain Russia among the leading space powers actively exploring the Moon, provide new knowledge and technologies for lunar exploration and development, and ultimately, allow for the establishment of sovereign Russian territories on the lunar surface,” Sergei Chernyshev, the vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told a special session of the Academy’s Presidium on space on April 7. “The national project ‘Space’ approved by the President, is designed to ensure Russia’s technological independence and competitiveness in the rocket and space sector, with priority given to the development of the Russian satellite constellation and manned space program, the creation of new spacecraft and launch vehicles, and the advancement of nuclear energy and space science,” he said.
Speaking on the second day of Space Week on April 8, Kurchatov Institute head, Mikhail Kovalchuk, said, “Today, leadership is determined by the ability to integrate several areas into a system. First, we need to produce materials of varying quality and with unique properties. Second, we need to provide the entire process with the necessary energy. And third, we need to create conditions for life in space. This formula reflects the entire complexity of the modern space race.” Kovalchuk underlined Russian progress in developing technologies for the direct conversion of nuclear energy from a radioisotope thermoelectric generator into electricity for long-term use under lunar conditions and new tests at the PERST test facility of a space simulator to test the electrodeless plasma engines under conditions as close to real-life as possible.
