Luna 27

Luna 27
Names Luna-Resurs
Mission type Technology, reconnaissance
Operator Roscosmos
Start of mission
Launch date 2023 (planned)[1]
Rocket Soyuz[2]
Moon lander

Luna 27 (Luna-Resurs lander)[3] is a planned lunar lander mission by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) with collaboration by the European Space Agency (ESA) to send a lander to the South Pole–Aitken basin, an unexplored area on the far side of the Moon.[4][5][6] Its objective will be to detect and characterise lunar polar volatiles. The mission is a continuation of the Luna-Glob programme.[4]

Mission

The purpose is to prospect for minerals, volatiles (nitrogen, water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen, methane and sulfur dioxide.), and lunar water ice in permanently shadowed areas of the Moon and investigate the potential use of these natural resources.[4] On the long term, Russia considers building a habitable base on the Moon's far side that would bring scientific and commercial benefits. [4]

Europe's participation in the mission received final approval at a meeting of ministers in December 2016. ESA will contribute with the development of a new type of automated landing system,[7] and will also be providing the 'PROSPECT' package, consisting of a drilling, sampling, sample handling, processing and analysis package.[8] The percussion drill is designed to go down to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) and collect cemented ice samples for an onboard miniaturised laboratory called ProSPA.[4][8] The scientific payload consists of fifteen instruments.[9]

The lander mission was announced in November 2014 by Russia,[10] who is planning the launch for 2023.[11]

Science payload

The lander will feature fifteen science instruments that will analyse the regolith, plasma in the exosphere, dust, and seismic activity.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Роскосмос" перенес запуски лунных миссий на год вперед
  2. ↑ Mitrofanov, Igor. "Luna-Glob” and “Luna-Resurs”: science goals, payload and status (PDF). EGU General Assembly 2014.
  3. ↑ Missions to the Moon Luna-27. The Planetary Society.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Ghosh, Pallab (16 October 2015). "Europe and Russia mission to assess Moon settlement". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  5. ↑ "ESA's plans for Lunar Exploration" (PDF). European Space Agency (ESA). 2014. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  6. ↑ "Russia-ESA Lunar Exploration Cooperation: Luna Mission Speed Dating". European Space Agency (ESA). 17 February 2014. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  7. ↑ Low-cost clocks for landing on the Moon. 26 October 2017. ESA.
  8. 1 2 "PROSPECTing the Moon" (PDF). European Space Agency (ESA). 18 May 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  9. ↑ Luna-27 (Luna-Resurs-Lander) payload. Russian Space Research Institute (IKI). 2017.
  10. ↑ "Luna-Resurs lander (Luna-27)". Russian Space Web. October 10, 2014. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  11. ↑ "Роскосмос" перенес запуски лунных миссий на год вперед
  12. ↑ Luna 27 (Luna-Resurs-Lander) payload. Russian Space Research Institute. 2017. Accessed February 17, 2018.

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