At present, Russia is again returning to the idea of building a manned station on the Moon. This project was relevant back in the 1960s. Already in 1962, Soviet designers and cosmonauts began developing a similar project, which is known today as "Barmingrad" (named after the general designer-inventor Vladimir Pavlovich Barmin). Barmin was involved in the design of all space flight launch sites, which were distinguished by their simplicity and reliability. His lunar science station was supposed to be the same.
Barmingrad
The design team, headed by Academician Vladimir Pavlovich Barmin, began developing the lunar station in 1962. The design bureau of general mechanical engineering, which was located in Moscow on Berezhkovskaya embankment, worked on the project. The space housewarming was already planned for the late 1980s. It was planned to use the station for both civil and military purposes. The base could become a unique site for the deployment of missiles, which would be virtually invulnerable from the ground, and special reconnaissance equipment to spy on the United States. The moon also attracted Soviet scientists with its geological features. Already in those years it was known that the natural satellite of the Earth contains large reserves of tritium - an ideal fuel for thermonuclear power plants of the future. At the same time, the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov believes that military goals are rather fictions, although the launch positions on the moon were really planned, but for what purposes, military or civil, it did not matter.
In total, several thousand different organizations were involved in the work on the project of the future lunar city. At the same time, the scope of work was divided into three areas: lunar structures, lunar transport and energy.
The Soviet engineers planned to deploy the base on the Moon in 3 stages:
1. Start to the lunar surface of automatic spacecraft that would deliver to the Earth samples of lunar soil from the places that were chosen for the base.
2. Sending to the lunar surface of the first module in the form of a cylinder, a lunar rover and a team of astronauts to conduct primary research on the spot.
3. Debugging of messages between the Moon and the Earth, delivery of additional equipment to the satellite: new modules of the base, nuclear power plant, i.e. the active development of a natural satellite of the Earth was supposed.
Soviet cosmonauts were supposed to work on the moon on a rotational basis - 6 months for each team of 12 astronauts. It was planned to populate the lunar city, as noted above, by the end of the 1980s. According to the famous Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who was the first to go into outer space, the readiness of the Barmin project was quite high, even the crews of the lunar ships were selected. “At present it seems to me that the lunar team should be from 3 to 5 people in order to provide a more comfortable combination of characters. I am sure that this will be the case at the future Russian base,”said Alexei Leonov.
The specificity of the first stage of work on the lunar base was that by the time the work began, no one had sufficient experience not only in manned astronautics, but even accurate data on the structure of the Earth's satellite surface. It was only clear that special structures created for research work in the Arctic, studying the ocean depths and flying into space were not suitable for use in lunar conditions. To ensure a long stay of people on the moon, it was not enough to achieve a combination in one structure of the strength of deep-sea bathyscaphes, the lightness of arctic houses and the protection of spaceships. It was necessary to make the whole structure work in a reliable mode for many years.
A necessary requirement for the creation of stationary lunar structures was the condition for the transformation of the structure. At the initial stage of development, the architects decided to use the familiar rectangular shape of the building. This configuration impressed with the convenience of layout and an acceptable combination of structural elements of a rigid frame with an inner soft shell. At the same time, the ribbed power frame was compact during transportation and could be easily transformed. Filling the cells of the structure with foaming plastics made it possible to obtain reliable and durable lunar structures. However, the appeal to cubic forms in lunar architecture turned out to be suboptimal. The main issue of space architecture is the organization of the internal space of the cells and the determination of the rational dimensions of the premises. The extra volume only worsened the weight characteristics of such premises.
As a result, the architects switched to spherical and cylindrical shapes of the premises. It was planned to fill their interior with inflatable furniture. The recommendations of psychologists were also taken into account, according to which the living cells were designed for two people. In order to eliminate the effect of a closed space arising in a person, new types of lighting were developed and special combinations of interior colors were selected. To transfer light energy from solar concentrators, hollow and flexible light guides made of film materials had to be used. The efficiency of transmission of light energy for such devices was 80%.
At that time, humanity simply did not have the experience of making long space flights. However, even worse, psychologists predicted the possible occurrence of depression in lunar inhabitants. For this reason, great attention has been paid to the issues of psychological comfort of astronauts on the Moon. According to Alexei Leonov, who gave an exclusive interview to the Zvezda TV channel, he was involved in the 1967 lunar station project. The cosmonaut was responsible in the project for work on the interior design of the station's premises and the creation of psychological comfort for all its inhabitants. The technical support of such very important parameters of the future lunar base was entrusted to Leonov for a reason. The eleventh Soviet cosmonaut was the first to make a spacewalk, so his opinion was always listened to by the chief designer of the project. In fact, in the Soviet Union, for the first time, they seriously approached the issue of ergonomics and design of living quarters.
Leonov proposed to create imaginary windows inside the station, on which painted landscapes were applied. The picture in such "windows" had to change in accordance with the seasons and time of day. He also thought of placing a special screen in front of the exercise bike. During the classes, the astronauts could observe footage on it, filmed on Earth - driving on a highway, a winding road, descents and ascents. “At the present time it does not seem to be some kind of innovation, but in those years my idea was received“with a bang,”the cosmonaut noted. Alexei Leonov is convinced that in the newly developed Russian scientific station on the Moon, his ideas, in the same or more perfect form, will certainly be preserved. He also has new proposals. In particular, he advised to organize a pool at the lunar base.“Let it be even small - 2x5 meters, but with a directed stream of water in order to increase the load,” says Alexei Leonov.
Various research institutes have worked out various options for future transformable structures. For example, even self-hardening buildings. Tape designs were also considered. In the transport state, they were supposed to resemble a cylindrical metal shell, only twisted and deflated into a roll. Directly on the spot, it was supposed to be filled with air, inflating and further retaining its shape. Of greatest interest were structures that would be built from biomaterials - materials with thermal "memory". It was planned to flatten finished structures made of such materials in a special way, actually turning them into a cake, and send them to the moon in this form. On site, under the influence of high temperature, the structure would return to its original appearance. However, all these fantastic design options were unable to overcome even the stage of prototyping tests. As a result, Barmin chose an ordinary cylindrical barrel module.
A full-size prototype of the lunar module was built at the General Engineering Design Bureau, it was used to test the layout of future modules of the lunar base. Various options have been considered for a long time. But in the future, for some unknown reason, they decided to throw the layout into scrap, from which only photographs of not the best quality came down to us. The very first Soviet lunar base was supposed to consist of 9 separate modules (each 4.5 meters long). All these modules were to be gradually delivered to a natural satellite of the Earth using transport ships.
It was planned to sprinkle the finished and assembled station from above with a meter layer of lunar soil. According to its characteristics, it was an ideal heat insulator, as well as excellent protection against radiation. Over time, a whole city was supposed to appear on the moon, which would have its own observatory, cinema, science center, gym, workshops, greenhouse, canteen, garages for lunar transport, a system for creating artificial gravity and even its own nuclear power plant. Especially for the lunar city, it was planned to create 3 types of lunar transport - heavy and light lunar rovers and a multifunctional machine "Ant". It was developed by the Leningrad VNIITransMash, which was famous for the creation of armored products. Some of the lunar vehicles created were supposed to run on solar energy, and some on batteries. The machines, which were intended for long-distance cruises, were planned to be equipped with small-sized nuclear reactors.
However, all plans to create a lunar base were never destined to come true. Work on the design of the lunar city was in full swing, when on November 24, 1972 at 9 o'clock in the morning, the fourth "lunar" rocket N-1 crashed. Its three previous launches also ended in disaster. At that time, the Americans had been walking freely on the moon for 3 years. The leadership of the Soviet Union eventually decided to curtail the N-1 program, which became the loudest failure of Korolev, and without the lunar launch vehicle, the lunar base project itself lost all meaning.
New stages of the lunar path
In the 21st century, Russia again returned to the issue of designing a lunar station. These works are just beginning, but it is already clear that the stages of exploration and exploration of the Moon will not differ much from what Vladimir Barmin proposed. In any case, these stages will also be three.
The first stage, from 2016 to 2026, involves the study of a natural satellite of the Earth using automatic vehicles. It is supposed to land in the regions of the South Pole of the Moon of the automatic interplanetary stations "Luna-25" and "Luna-27". The Luna-26 station will have to study the physical conditions in the polar region, as well as the regolith. And the Luna-28 station will be responsible for the delivery of lunar soil samples to our planet. As a result of these studies, scientists are going to find out the physicochemical properties and composition of the lunar polar regolith, as well as to determine the most promising regions in the region of the Moon's South Pole for the deployment of a lunar test site and a lunar base in the future.
The second stage of the lunar program involves the conduct of manned flights in the circumlunar space, as well as the deployment of the necessary elements of the lunar space infrastructure. Including the creation of a Russian lunar test site by the deep space exploration program is planned later than 2030. Within two years, from 2030 to 2032, it is planned to start landing on the Moon of Russian cosmonauts who could start building and equipping the base.
The third stage of the exploration and exploration of the Moon is planned for 2036-2050. There is no exact information yet about what exactly will happen at this stage. But it can be assumed that during this time the installation and commissioning should be completed on the Moon, and all the necessary elements of the Russian lunar base should be put into operation.
At the same time, the Russian program for the study and study of the Moon acquires not only real features, but also a cost. The draft "Long-term program of deep space exploration" was sent for approval to the government of the Russian Federation, for the implementation of which a record amount of 12.5 trillion rubles could be spent until 2050. At the same time, the numbers may still be revised. And private Russian companies also declare their interest in developing a lunar base. For example, the Russian company Lin Industrial (a resident of Skolkovo) announced its readiness to deploy a base on the Moon within 10 years after the relevant decision was made.
