MOSCOW. Oct 10 (Interfax-AVN) - The Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) intends to use Western technologies in lunar exploration projects, NPO Lavochkin Deputy General Designer Maxim Martynov said.
"An inter-agency agreement has been signed under the Roscosmos aegis and is now being processed at the government; the purpose is to draw technologies, Western technologies, for this project," Martynov said at a press conference in Moscow.
No country can fulfill such a large-scale project as lunar exploration on its own, he pointed out.
"Our European partners will provide a safe landing system," Martynov said.
Meanwhile, Roscosmos strategic planning department head Yuri Makarov told reporters that the first stage of the lunar exploration program would cost tens of billions of rubles.
"Tens of billions of rubles because this is a truly resource intensive project, which is hard to accomplish from the engineering point of view," Makarov said.
As to the project deadlines, he said "deferrals had been common."
"Deferrals are common. The implementation of these projects requires very close cooperation, including that international," Makarov stressed.