Kovalchuk rejected the idea of launching metallurgical production on the moon

Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center, on December 10, answering questions after a lecture on "Nuclear Energy for Space" at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, rejected the idea of launching metallurgical plants on the Moon, noting its inexpediency.

According to him, even if scientists can discover new important rare earth metals on the Moon, it will be easier to transport them to Earth than to open energy facilities on a satellite.

"We know that there is regolith there [on the moon]. We explored the lunar soil back in the 60s. Hydrogen is interesting now <...> as a working fluid for the engine. Let's see, now let's analyze what is there. Maybe there are rare earths there, for example, there is something else, but then it will still be cheaper and easier to transport the ore mined there to Earth than to drag the energy industry there. That's my feeling," Kovalchuk said.

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On October 31, the president of the Kurchatov Institute noted that a new stage of space exploration has now begun and it is important to be the first in this. If Russia had previously explored near-Earth space, now it is necessary to learn how to explore the Moon and other planets, Kovalchuk noted.

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