Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin warned in an interview with RIA Novosti about a possible tough battle for the Moon. In his opinion, the Earth's satellite is unlikely to become a zone free from territorial claims.
Yurchikhin noted that the US plans to secure the Apollo landing areas make the conflict quite real. He stressed that if valuable minerals are found on the Moon, the fight for them will be fierce.
The cosmonaut added that he would like the Moon to be explored jointly by humanity, but there are no prerequisites for this yet.
Yurchikhin emphasized that strong states will hinder the development of young countries in space and warned against blurring the concept of colonialism. In his opinion, the Moon should be developed jointly with other laws different from earthly ones.
Today, several countries are implementing projects to explore the Moon, including the construction of bases and settlements. The President of the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" Mikhail Kovalchuk said that the Earth's satellite should become a "hub" for testing technologies for long-distance space flights.
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov announced that Russia plans to deliver a small nuclear power plant to the Moon to provide energy for the lunar station and test technologies for further space exploration.
Preliminary plans include the creation of an international lunar research station by 2035. The Russian nuclear installation for it may be delivered between 2033 and 2035.
