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Private Russian Company Proposes Lunar Base

MarkWhittington writes According to an article in Sputnik, a private Russian company called Lin Industrial has announced that it is capable of building a lunar base. However, according to information contained to a recent post in Parabolic Arc, this announcement may be more the result of idle boasting than an objective assessment of actual ability. Nevertheless, Lin seems to be one of the few entrepreneurial startups in Russia in the style of much more robust enterprises in the West such as SpaceX and Blue Origin.

36 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. This is what qualifies as "news" here these days.. by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Random boasting from people unable to carry them out... Well, they better not build it where all those time-share lots have been sold...

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  2. OOOOhh!! Me too!! Me too!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I propose a private base on Venus!

    Look how easy that was!?

    1. Re:OOOOhh!! Me too!! Me too!!! by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2

      You have no technical knowledge, financial means, or support from the government. In other words, you're a loser and no one cares about your proposal.

      Exactly. And does "Lin Industrial"? Probably not.

      Who are these people? Are they more than a couple of guys looking for "venture capital" to spend for a few years? Any actual rocket know-how? Do they employ an office full of qualified Russian rocket engineers?

      I can't find anything - English or Russian - about these people, who's backing them, what their experience level is. My guess is that it's a pipe dream of flat out a way to sponge up "venture capital".

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    2. Re:OOOOhh!! Me too!! Me too!!! by savuporo · · Score: 1

      One you wont hear : I propose a private mission to Uranus !
      Well, maybe in San Francisco.

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  3. With blackjack and hookers, I presume? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ridiculous.

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    Ezekiel 23:20
    1. Re:With blackjack and hookers, I presume? by tquasar · · Score: 1

      Bender? Is that you?

  4. MAY BE more the result of idle boasting??? by Nutria · · Score: 1

    Call us back when you've at least orbited a space station or two...

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    1. Re:MAY BE more the result of idle boasting??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Call us back when you've at least orbited a space station or two...

      ...says the person who forgot what country put the first human in space.

  5. me, too!1! by waynemcdougall · · Score: 4, Funny

    I, too, am capable of building a lunar base.

    I just need some funding. And a rocket. And a team of trained engineers/astronauts (both, not either or).

    Rocket fuel, I guess. And plans. Plans would be good.

    But I am totally capable.

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    1. Re:me, too!1! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You sound like Elon Musk.

    2. Re:me, too!1! by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

      A lunar base would be handy too.

    3. Re:me, too!1! by quantaman · · Score: 1

      Don't forget the hookers and blackjack.

      In fact, forget the lunar base!

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      I stole this Sig
    4. Re:me, too!1! by delt0r · · Score: 1

      For what? What would a luna base be good for? Please don't say He3....

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  6. Re:Raison D'etre? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    In the polar regions? Probably to look for water. Eventual exploitation might need some local repairmen to keep it running. But yeah, the initial exploration doesn't sound like people stuff.

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    Ezekiel 23:20
  7. until they get on Putin's bad side by swschrad · · Score: 1, Insightful

    then they are capable of bankruptcy and the modern gulag. Russian business is ebb and flow like that.

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  8. Special request by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Whoever sets up the lunar base, do you mind also putting a Pirate Bay server up there, too? I never finished downloading the second season of Hannibal.

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    You are welcome on my lawn.
  9. Re:They couldn't build a heavy booster by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energia

    Launched two times, booster performed flawlessly each time (payload failed on first launch).

  10. Lunar Command is a good old school game by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    Lunar Base is, too.

  11. Re:They couldn't build a heavy booster by melted · · Score: 1

    Yes I do. I also realize those engines can't get humans to the moon, let alone an entire manned base.

  12. Re:They couldn't build a heavy booster by melted · · Score: 1

    Still smaller than Saturn-V, with less payload capacity to both LEO and the Moon. Never flown with human payload. Never flown beyond LEO. Better luck next time.

  13. In the style of SpaceX, building a moon base by Suddenly_Dead · · Score: 1

    In the style of SpaceX? So I suppose they're undercutting other traditional space launch companies and are on track to developing a a heavy lifter and other technologies they hope could get them to Mars?

    Wait, you're telling me they don't even have one rocket yet, never mind having actually achieved orbit, any sort of revenue, or even the beginnings of the capability of building, launching, landing, and assembling a moon base? Slashdot, why?

  14. Re:They couldn't build a heavy booster by qpqp · · Score: 1

    now, with thieves and crooks running the country.

    Wow, what a remarkably naive thing to think. Pray tell, when was Ru^H^Hany country not run by "thieves and crooks?"

  15. Re:Russians had the most expensive olymic games by qpqp · · Score: 2

    Go look in your own backyard, before trying to shit in someone else's, punk.

  16. Scamming investors can be profitable by billstewart · · Score: 2

    There are two kinds of people who announce they can do something like that - the ones who don't have a clue how hard it is, and the ones who don't care because their objective is to scam investors. (Seasteading's a lot easier, but most of the proposals I've seen for that have been the scammer types.)

    Yes, getting enough equipment up to the moon to build a moon base is something you can do if you've got enough cash. Doing it as a private industry (rather than a government doing it) means you also need a revenue model once you've built it, and if you've done due diligence you won't find much revenue up there, even if you manage to get rid of inconvenient UN treaties that ban owning the moon.

    But building an ecosystem that can sustain your moon colony is really hard; we don't know how to keep small pilot projects like Biosphere II running for very long without cheating and restocking the atmosphere, or how to build dirt without a ready supply of nitrogen and phosphate to grow plants with. It's a lot easier to deal with that on a moon base than on Mars, because you can send an occasional care package, but it's not like the convenience of restocking the International Space Station (which doesn't recycle most of its resources either.)

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    1. Re:Scamming investors can be profitable by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      There are two kinds of people who announce they can do something like that - the ones who don't have a clue how hard it is, and the ones who don't care because their objective is to scam investors.

      So which one is Elon Musk? (I'm voting for Type I myself.)
       

      But building an ecosystem that can sustain your moon colony is really hard; we don't know how to keep small pilot projects like Biosphere II running for very long without cheating and restocking the atmosphere, or how to build dirt without a ready supply of nitrogen and phosphate to grow plants with.

      You're correct in that we don't know how to do those things... but please don't use Biosphere II as an example. It never was a serious scientific experiment, even though the ecological mystics in charge of the project managed to sell it as such.

    2. Re:Scamming investors can be profitable by itzly · · Score: 1

      don't use Biosphere II as an example. It never was a serious scientific experiment

      That has always made me wonder why nobody followed up on these projects with a rigorous scientific version. It seems we can learn plenty from it.

    3. Re:Scamming investors can be profitable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The system was not capable of generating enough oxygen for the inhabitants, one of the people inside stated in an interview that it was painful to breath because there was so much CO2 in the atmosphere

      It was taken over by Columbia University in 1995, and they changed from an air tight system to a flow through system in 1996
      They continued to make studies on CO2 levels etc for a few years and it has recently been turned over to the University of Arizona who will continue to perform similar studies

      Any long term human habitation off Earth will probably have to rely on chemical scrubbers and industrial O2 production since the amount of space that has to be dedicated to plants for O2 generation is prohibitive

    4. Re:Scamming investors can be profitable by Optali · · Score: 1

      You forget that there is a third type of people doing such announcements:

      A bunch of Russian oligarchs during a Vodka orgy.

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      -- 29A the number of the Beast
  17. Re:I have one question. by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    What are they going to pay for it with?

    Maybe they can fuel it with vodka, the price of which has dropped significan;y in Russia: http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/3...

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  18. Re:Raison D'etre? by petermgreen · · Score: 1

    I think you are forgetting the impact of communications latency.

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  19. Re:Russians had the most expensive olymic games by Kjella · · Score: 4, Informative

    At the same token, in Russia, significant part of population still uses outhouses, average life expectancy of males is 50 years

    Do I smell a troill? It's currently 65 years and the lowest it's been since 1950 is 58 years.

    --
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  20. Re:Raison D'etre? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure it would be that big a deal. Figure it's, what, about 2 or 3 seconds? Yeah, I don't think you'll be ducking and weaving things that are coming at you. But a humanoid robot could probably walk around (slowly) and pick up stuff.

    Heck, the old Soviet lunokhod rovers were remote controlled.

  21. Re:This is what qualifies as "news" here these day by davester666 · · Score: 1

    I'll bet there a bunch of companies capable of building a lunar base [as in, a facility capable of supporting life for a non-trivial amount of time on the surface of the moon]. Of course, none of them have any chance of actually getting the base to the moon.

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  22. Science V. Media by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

    don't use Biosphere II as an example. It never was a serious scientific experiment

    That has always made me wonder why nobody followed up on these projects with a rigorous scientific version.

    There's been a variety of related and rigorous work - but unlike Biosphere II, they haven't been large and gaudy and thus haven't captured the media and the public's attention. That the more rigorous research has only lead to the conclusion that we don't currently actually know all that much rather than making sexy headlines hasn't helped much.

  23. Fuck yeah, moonbase! by SpaceManFlip · · Score: 1
    Why do we not have a moonbase yet, I want to know? I mean the Earth collectively.

    Robert Heinlein provided much of the philosophical legwork for how to make it work: Don't worry about building large reinforced airtight structures above ground, but instead bore into the ground and/or use caves that can be sealed up and fortified.

    i.e., live IN the moon not ON the moon

    So first you send up rockets with tunnel-boring moon machines, then you build hatches over the holes, then you seal up the leaks in the tunnels, then you build whatever you want inside there, with a pressurized atmosphere.

    1. Re:Fuck yeah, moonbase! by space_jake · · Score: 1

      Moonquakes could be a serious concern for underground bases. http://science.nasa.gov/scienc...