Russia to build super-rocket in hopes of getting to Mars by 2030!

MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - April 30, 2014 - Russia has announced plans to build a super-heavy carrier rocket that could propel its cosmonauts to Mars by 2030. The rocket will rival NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), which is expected to come in two variants capable of lifting 70 and 130 tons into orbit.

Construction of the first stage of Russia's super-rocket - capable of lifting 80 tons - is already underway, according to Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko.

The second stage is to build a carrier rocket capable of lifting from 100 to 120 tons of payload into low-earth orbit.

Meanwhile, NASA has said the first test flight of the smaller SLS design is scheduled for 2017.

Last year, Russia said that it will develop new huge rockets for manned flights to the moon and Mars, by 2030 - the same year that NASA is aiming for the red planet.

A working group has looked at proposals for a heavy-lift rocket, including the revival of the Energia launcher.

Energia is the highest payload rocket ever built in Russia but the project was scrapped 20 years ago during the country’s economic crisis.

It isn't just the red planet that Russia is planning to conquer. Earlier this month, deputy premier Dmitry Rogozin said, “We are coming to the moon forever.”

In an article entitled Russian Space, Rogozin spoke of targeting Mars and other space objects as future priorities.

“Flights to Mars and asteroids in our view do not contradict exploration of the moon, but in many senses imply this process.”

He wrote of “colonization of the moon and near-moon space.”

In the next 50 years, manned flights are unlikely beyond “the space between Venus and Mars. But it is quite possible to speak about exploration of Mars, flights to asteroids and flights to Mars.”

Currently, Russia has plans to launch three lunar spacecraft - two to the surface and one to orbit - by the end of the decade.

The first mission, the long-delayed Luna-25, is slated for launch in 2016, to research the moon's south pole.

The next two missions will include an orbiter to monitor the moon in 2018, and a year later a polar lander with a drill to search for water ice.

By 2040, Russia plans to create a lunar base for long-term missions to the Earth's natural satellite.

Rogozin said that the moon is the only realistic source to obtain water, minerals and other resources for future space missions.

A lunar laboratory complex will also be used for testing new space technologies.