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Russia had ambitious goals and looked forward to regaining the title of leading space power by 2023, a leading scientist said Tuesday.
Russia had been working out a long-term program of Moon exploration aimed at building a permanent lunar base, said Lev Zelyony, director of the Russian Academy of Science's Space Research Institute.
"The Moon could be treated like Earth's seventh continent. By mid-century, a fierce competition for possession of the Moon poles will start," Zelyony told a meeting in the Mission Control Center near Moscow chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
Zelyony compared the prospective Moon race with the current competition between world powers over the Arctic.
If the Moon base is built, maintenance of the International Space Station would become secondary or even unnecessary, the scientist said.
He said Russia would start by sending one Moon orbiter and two Moon rovers intended to deliver lunar soil to Earth, he said.
Rogozin, who is in charge of the national military-industrial complex, has sided with the scientist, saying Russia has got everything to become a leader in space exploration, including creation of an anti-asteroid shield and building a Moon base.