Russia is preparing to return to the big space race by launching three new spacecraft designed to explore the moon. The first stage of this space program is currently being implemented. Funding is under way to create the first three spacecraft, which will receive the designations Luna-25, Luna-26 and Luna-27, according to the Russian agency Interfax, citing Lev Zeleny, who holds the post of vice president of the Russian Academy of Sciences. as well as being the director of the Institute for Space Research. The new Russian vehicles will continue the baton of the Soviet spacecraft that were used to survey the Moon. Hence their ordinal designations.
Even during the existence of the USSR, two lunar rovers were sent to the moon, which successfully worked on its surface, and also three automatic missions were carried out, which delivered samples of lunar soil to our planet. At the same time, in the USSR, all work on the study of the natural satellite of the Earth was stopped back in 1976. Since then, domestic spacecraft have not flown to the Moon. Despite this, Russia is ready to start implementing its own lunar program again, sending three different spacecraft to our satellite at once.
The last domestic device that explored the moon is the automatic interplanetary station (AMS) "Luna-24". This unit was launched on August 9, 1976. Already on August 13, the AMS entered the orbit of the moon, and on August 18 it carried out a soft landing on its surface. The tasks of this spacecraft included sampling of lunar soil samples. The drilling module installed at the station went deep into the lunar soil to a depth of 225 centimeters, taking its samples. The next day after that, the takeoff stage sent the samples taken back to Earth, the landing of the module with lunar soil occurred in the Tyumen region on August 22, 1976.
Remarkable is the fact that after the "Luna-24" earthly spacecraft did not land on the lunar surface for a long 37 years. This "lunar calm" was interrupted by the first Chinese lunar rover called "Yuytu" (Jade Hare), which landed on the Moon on December 14, 2013. The device began to perform the first tasks on December 22, and on December 25, for the period of the moonlit night, it was put into sleep mode. Having successfully survived a moonlit night, the lunar rover was activated again on January 11, but already on January 25 a number of malfunctions were discovered in its operation. Because of this, the Jade Hare was put back into sleep mode. For this reason, the success of the PRC's lunar program is currently in question.
As Lev Zeleny notes, the spacecraft Luna-25 and Luna-27 will have to land on the lunar surface, and Luna-26 will be launched into orbit of a natural satellite of the Earth. This unit will be engaged in its remote sensing, and will also act as a signal repeater. According to the scientist, the launch of the apparatus "Luna-25" is scheduled for 2016, "Luna-26" - for 2018, "Luna-27" - for 2019. Lev Zeleny noted that these launches will be a continuation of the Soviet program, which included two landings of lunar rovers that successfully worked on the lunar surface, as well as three successful launches of automatic missions, as a result of which it was possible to deliver lunar soil samples to Earth.
He noted that these were very serious achievements, they can be called great. Lev Zeleny hopes that the Russian space station Luna-25 will be able to successfully land on the lunar surface. At the same time, Russia expects to send spacecraft not to those areas where research was carried out in the 1970s, but directly to the poles of the Earth's natural satellite. These polar regions of the Moon have not yet been sufficiently studied by terrestrial scientists, although, of course, they are of certain interest for modern science. Lev Zeleny noted that the second stage of the Russian lunar program involves the dispatch of two more automatic stations - Luna-28 and Luna-29. The first of them is the return of the lunar soil to the Earth, the second is the work on the surface of the natural satellite of the Russian lunar rover.
SC "Luna-Glob" or "Luna-25"
Previously, the general director of the NPO. Lavochkin, Viktor Khartov told the press that the flight of the Luna-25 "will be mostly demonstration." The purpose of this flight is to land the device near the south pole of the moon. The Luna-25 spacecraft will use a minimum set of scientific instruments, and the design of the spacecraft has also been somewhat lightened. The purpose of this launch is to return to our country confidence that it is able to land spacecraft on the lunar surface, said Viktor Khartov.
It should be noted that the Luna-Glob apparatus is hidden under the name Luna-25. In October last year, information appeared that the vibration-resistant, design and antenna models of the Luna-Glob lunar probe are ready and are currently at various stages of testing. At the same time, the technical prototype of the spacecraft - the last stage before the construction of the flight prototype itself, which will fly to the Moon - will be completed by the end of 2014. The new version of the Luna-Glob probe project was finally approved at the end of last year and involves minimizing the use of technical solutions that do not have flight qualifications. Everything in this Russian apparatus must be geared towards reliability and a guarantee of mission fulfillment.
After Luna-25, Luna-26, an orbiter with a repeater on board, will fly to the natural satellite of the Earth, which will ensure operation with subsequent Russian spacecraft sent to the Moon, Khartov notes. In this case, we are talking about the device, which is also known as "Luna-Resource". According to Viktor Khartov, such an orbital probe, located in lunar orbit, in the future can provide invaluable assistance, allowing you to contact the lander in the event that there is no direct radio visibility with our planet. The Luna-26 is to become one of the elements of the Russian lunar orbital infrastructure.
SC "Luna-Resurs" or "Luna-26"
The Luna-27 spacecraft will be a heavy landing probe, which is to land in the vicinity of the South Pole of our natural satellite. It will carry on board a drilling rig that Russian scientists plan to use to find water ice. “There is no need to hope that chunks of ice will be found on the lunar surface. In a vacuum, everything quickly evaporates. Most likely, we can talk about finding a regolith that will contain a certain percentage of ice at a certain depth. In order to obtain such samples, a powerful landing stage equipped with a drilling rig will be included in the Luna-27 mission,”noted Viktor Khartov.
According to the specialist, the lunar soil with some content of frozen water can be located at a depth of about two meters from the lunar surface. “Therefore, it will be necessary to bury to a depth of about two meters, get the regolith from it, and start studying it on the surface of the satellite. For this "Luna-27" will receive all the necessary scientific instruments and equipment "- stressed Khartov.
The next mission, named Luna-28, will be the main one. Sending this spacecraft to the Moon presupposes the delivery to Earth of samples of regolith with an admixture of ice, preferably in the same form in which it is on the Moon, without transferring ice to water.
