Why did the USSR and the USA fight for the moon?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

A couple of years ago, Roscosmos rejected the American program to create an international manned near-moon station and refused to participate in it. They say that such projects are far from being a priority for the Russian space industry. However, the other day, the department of Dmitry Rogozin changed its mind: Russia is again ready to return to the question of the development of the Moon and the circumlunar space, which is already, for a minute, more than 50 years old.

How it all started

The first "moon race" was fast-paced. Technically, we were the first to land on the only satellite of our planet, that is, the USSR, however, on September 14, 1959, the lunar surface was touched not by a human foot, but by the automatic interplanetary station "Luna-2". And not just touched, but literally bumped into her. The predecessor was less fortunate: "Luna-1" literally flew by - because of an error in the trajectory of the station, it was not possible to land on the lunar. This fact pissed off the American government, and already in 1961, John F. Kennedy announced that the States would land their astronauts on the lunar surface by the end of the decade.

No sooner said than done. Until 1969, the United States was losing the "lunar race" to the Soviets: practically all American interplanetary space exploration programs were chased by failures. However, while the USSR, with the help of automatic stations, photographed the Moon from orbit from different angles, on July 21, 1969, Neil Armstrong made that very "Small step for man - a huge step for mankind." It was check and checkmate to the Soviet Union.

During the first race, both superpowers had grandiose plans to build lunar bases. In the USSR, there was a very detailed project "Zvezda", which included mock-ups of expedition vehicles and habitable modules. However, "Zvezda" was never destined to "shine" due to disagreements in the Politburo regarding space exploration, as well as the high cost of the project, and already in 1976 it was curtailed. In the United States, they were also in no hurry to build a colony on the Moon: three independent projects were created in the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, the Americans also tempered their ardor after the triumphant landing in 1969.

Why is all this necessary

First, it's beautiful. The presence in the "resume" of any country of its own or jointly built lunar station will a priori add significance on the world stage. Nowadays, the USA, Russia, European countries, as well as China and India are working on the exploration of the Moon with varying success.

They all have their own projects, but the deadlines are not short. The European Space Agency plans to build its own bases on the moon no earlier than 2030, and the Chinese have completely postponed the implementation of the project to 2040-2060. Almost all programs run into excessive implementation costs.

Secondly, there is something to profit from on the moon: a variety of minerals, including aluminum, iron and titanium, also water in the form of ice was found on the satellite in the region of the poles. But of greater interest is the isotope helium-3, which is quite rare on Earth, which is perfect as a fuel for thermonuclear reactors.

This element is found in the surface layer of the lunar soil - regolith. Russian scientists have calculated that to provide energy to the entire population of the Earth, it will take about 30 tons of helium-3, and on the surface of the Moon, according to rough estimates, at least 500 thousand tons. Among the advantages of helium-3, there is no problem of disposal of radioactive waste, as in the fission of heavy nuclei on Earth, but the launch of a thermonuclear reaction with it is many times more difficult. In a word, everything is not so simple.

Some problems

One of the main problems of long-term stay on the Moon is solar radiation. On our planet, we are protected by the atmosphere, which traps most of the radiation, as well as the magnetic field that repels it. The moon practically has neither one nor the other, therefore, getting a dangerous fraction of the radiation even being in a protected spacesuit is a matter of several hours. True, this problem can be solved.

The flux of protons during solar flares moves slowly and has a rather low penetrating power, so in case of danger, astronauts have time to hide in shelter. Actually, almost all projects of lunar colonies are underground for this very reason.

But this is not all the difficulty. Moon dust is not something that accumulates on your bookshelf. Due to the absence of gravity and soil erosion, it consists of extremely sharp particles and has an electrostatic charge. Accordingly, these very particles easily "stick" to all mechanisms and significantly reduce their service life.

Plus, there are purely economic difficulties in the exploration of the moon. Yes, sending an expedition there costs a huge investment, and building a colony there - even more. But you need to understand what the benefit can be from this. And it is not obvious. We do not need helium-3 as much as it is difficult to extract energy from it. Space tourism can, in theory, be profitable, but a similar experience with commercial flights to the ISS showed that the revenues from such flights did not even cover part of the costs associated with maintaining the station. So it's not all that simple here either.

Still worth a try

If the commercial component of lunar colonies is not obvious, then from a scientific point of view, such bases are priceless. The very absence of an atmosphere and magnetic field, which is a problem in development, is also a huge advantage for science.

Observatories built on the lunar surface will allow optical and radio telescopes to study the universe much more thoroughly and look much further into space than can be done from the Earth's surface. And from the moon it is much closer to get to Mars! Actually, today many scientists say that the Earth's satellite should be used exclusively as an intermediate stage in the development of the red planet, and not for the sake of mining or tourism.