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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Russia And USA Plan Joint Development Of Rocket Engines For Flights To Mars

Le Bourget, France (SPX) Jun 17, 2005
Russia and the United States are considering the joint development of new rocket engines for spaceship flights to the Moon and Mars, the head of Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov, said at the Air Show in Le Bourget, reports RIA Novosti.
"At the meeting with our American partners we considered the possibility of flights to the Moon and Mars, and also the development of engines, because if this task is not accomplished, no spaceship will fly anywhere," Perminov said.

Apart from that, according to Perminov, the partners discussed the existing program of delivering Russian rocket engines RD-180 for the American Atlas rocket carriers to the United States.

"There are no deviations from the implementation of this program; Russia supplies engines strictly on time, and the American side approves the ideology of continuing to move in that direction," Perminov told RIA Novosti.
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Now, this is quite interesting. How does this effect President Bush's plan to reach the Moon and Mars?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

NASA spaceprobe to search for water in space using Russian technology

From PRAVDA...

Water on the Moon can only occur in the shape of ice accumulated on the poles, in the craters devoid of sunshine

Russian-made device mounted on an American space probe will search for water and locations for future bases on the Moon. "Scientists are planning to find ice on the poles of the Moon using Russian equipment LEND to be mounted NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter," said Igor Mitrofanov, head of laboratory of the Institute for Space Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The equipment is under development by the above institute.

The new device is a modified version of the neutron detector HEND which was installed on the American orbiter Odysseus. The HEND has been used for four years now for detection of water on Mars. "Theoretically, water on the Moon can only occur in the shape of ice accumulated on the poles, in the craters devoid of sunshine, in the so-called 'cold traps'," said Mr. Mitrovanov. According to him, the HEND should be combined with telescopic equipment designed to provide high accuracy while detecting neutrons in the lunar craters as the orbiter conducts exploration of those cold traps that are relatively small, a few dozen kilometers in diameter.

A small quantity of neutrons is a sign of the presence of ice. "The orbiter will carry five more American-made devices to be used in conjunction with LEND," said Roald Sagdeev, professor of the University of Maryland. One of the devices will be used for drawing lunar temperature charts to locate areas with the lowest temperatures. "A comprehensive approach was used while developing equipment so that devices can supplement one another in terms of operational functions," said Mr. Sagdeev.

Locations with water could be used as sites for building space bases in the long run. "Solar generators could be installed in the locations where the Sun shines all the time, they could produce electric power for turning ice into hydrogen fuel to be used by interplanetary spacecraft," said Mr. Mitrofanov. The launching of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is slated for October 2005.

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I get the first drink of Moon water.