MOSCOW, April 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia...

"The lunar project is aimed at recovering resources such as helium-3," said Nikolai Sevastyanov, the president and chief designer of leading Russian spacecraft-maker Energia. This isotope could be used to produce fuel when the earth"s own energy resources become depleted.

The program could also be used to transfer environmentally hazardous, energy-consuming production facilities to the moon, the official said.

It will take an estimated $2 billion to implement the first leg of the project and another $40 billion to implement the second, Sevastyanov said.

The initial phase, to be implemented in 2010-2015, will involve Soyuz spaceships, Soyuz-FG and Proton launch vehicles, and DM-type boosters.

"The Russian segment of the International Space Station could be used as an assembly site for an inter-orbital space complex bound for the moon," he said.

The next stage, set for 2015-2020, will focus on the construction of a transportation system for ferrying

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