Exactly 50 years ago today, the American manned space mission Apollo 11 was launched to the Moon.
Are nations on the verge of a new space race five decades later?
Anatoli Petrukovic, director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Middle East Headlines News Team about the possibility of resuming the space race between Russia and the United States to return and land on the Moon , explained why it does not make sense to send a person outside our solar system, and revealed when a twin planet like Earth will be found.
Although many are talking about the possibility of a large-scale ” space race ” between the United States and Russia, Petrukovic believes that this will not happen, simply because of a financial issue.
“Of course, a race like that of 50 years ago will not happen again, at that time a good percentage of the country’s budget was dedicated to the space race. There will no longer be that overvoltage that made a whole country work to guarantee that something would fly into space, but race as a competition, of course, always exist, because space science and Space technology, in a sense, is the card of a country, “said the scientist in the interview.
When asked what are the spatial facts that humanity will see in the next 50 years, Petrukovic said that it is difficult to make predictions, since ” space is unpredictable”. He said, however, that flying out of our solar system, for example, is something that still does not make sense.
” It makes no sense for humans to fly out of the solar system in the near future, which is almost impossible for technical reasons, so I believe that manned cosmonautics will work on other missions, especially in increasing the autonomy of human space flight. Before a person flies away from Earth, it is necessary to think about how to ensure their survival and return them reliably and safely home, the risks are very high now, therefore, to fly farther away, humanity must overcome this risk barrier, and the Moon is a very convenient testing ground for developing new space technologies, “said the director of the Russian Space Research Institute.
Also, Petrukovic said that the next few years can bring great discoveries in the field of basic science in Space.
The risks of US space missions to the Moon and Mars
“I think the near future will be holding important discoveries about space in fundamental science. In other words, in the search for life, the search for exoplanets, ie planets of other suitable stars for life. I believe in about 10 or 15 years we will find the “full twin” of the Earth, we can verify the composition of its atmosphere, analyze the climate and temperature. There may be another practical issue: if there is someone there, then how to contact them? this is a completely different issue, “the expert concluded.
