And yet, the current generation will witness the first long-term missions, where people, having certain infrastructure, will be on the Moon and possibly other celestial bodies.
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A backup place for humanity
D. Bakanov values the Moon not only as a scientific object but also as a backup place for humanity in case of natural or man-made disasters on Earth. “There must always be a backup option where humanity could ‘relocate.’ And this will not be possible without space. The first stage is the Moon,” said D. Bakanov.
In Russia, in 2024, the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) prepared a Moon program planned until 2060. It includes a series of missions dedicated to studying Earth’s satellite.
Putin is offered a nuclear power plant on the Moon
In the summer of 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov promised President Vladimir Putin that Russia plans to be the first in the world to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon. It should be established by 2036 and supply energy to the infrastructure.
For Mars exploration after 2030, the launch of the interplanetary station “Boomerang” is being considered, intended to collect soil from Mars’ moon Phobos. After 2036, deeper studies of Venus and Mars are planned, as well as launching transport with nuclear power plants into space.
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Russia’s Moon program has faced serious difficulties for many years – failures and delays. In 2023, the first space mission to the Moon in half a century ended in failure: the “Luna-25” station crashed on the Moon’s surface while attempting to land. In April 2026, Russian Academy of Sciences Vice President Sergey Chernyshov announced that the upcoming Moon mission launch was postponed from 2027 to 2028, and several other missions were delayed.
SpaceX owner Elon Musk stated at the beginning of the year that his company will soon fully focus on building settlements on the Moon and postpone the Mars program.
SpaceX has already focused on building a self-developing city on the Moon, as this could potentially be done faster than in 10 years, while Mars would require more than 20 years,” Musk wrote on the platform X.
