Hi Board

With the Ruskies and my homeland joining efforts for a new space-port on Christmas Island I was speculating over the news that Energia/Buran might be brought back into operation - and Australia already has an operational Buran here, currently in Sydney.

So Nick we could almost do the Mars Semi-Direct thing in partner-ship with the Russians?? That's a cool thought - getting the jump on the USA.

But seriously there's no reason why the three nations couldn't pool their resources - Russia & boosters-methane rockets; Australia & location/space/methane/LOX; USA & habs/ERVs/Ascent vehicles.

However the USA might have an advantage with existing heavy duty launch-pads... oh well.

The NASA CMEX site has pics of mission components being launched by Energia-derived boosters - not an absurd idea?

Adam