Russia's space programs fully financed until 2016

The Russian government has fully financed its space research programs until 2016, including two Moon expeditions, a leading Russian aerospace company Lavochkin said Tuesday. According to Lavochkin Research and Production center head Victor Khartov, Russia plans to send two mission to the Moon, one to Venus and launch several scientific satellites for deeper space research by 2016. "All the projects planned for 2015-2016 have been financed rationally with the clear deadlines for their completion," Khartov told a cosmonaut conference here. He said Russian scientists were working together with the European Space Agency for the joint missions to Mars in 2016 and 2018, as well as to Jupiter and asteroid Apophis. "There are poposals to fly to Apophis to plant a radio beacon, which would help to follow the small planet's orbit and minimize the risk of its collision with Earth," Khartov said. He said, although the failure of the Phobos-Grunt probe last November had hampered preparations for other space missions, Russia planned to repeat the attempt. "We have no other option. Russia must fulfill the task it has set for itself," Khartov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying. The Phobos-Grunt mission to explore a Mars moon failed a few hours after its launch on Nov. 9, 2011 and its wreckage fell to Earth in January. The Lavochkin corporation is a major player in the Russian space program. It has developed and manufactured the Fregat rocket upper stage, interplanetary probes such as the Phobos-Grunt, and other satellites.