Luna 25

Luna 25 (Luna-Glob lander)[9] is a planned lunar lander mission by Roscosmos. It will land near the lunar south pole at the Boguslavsky crater.[2] It was renamed from Luna-Glob lander to Luna 25 to emphasize the continuity of the Soviet Luna programme from the 1970s, though it is still part of what was at one point conceptualized as the Luna-Glob lunar exploration program. As of February 2023, the launch is scheduled for 13 July 2023.[3]

Luna 25
Maquette of Luna 25 Moon lander
NamesLuna-Glob lander
Mission typeTechnology, Reconnaissance
OperatorSRI RAS (IKI RAN)
Mission duration1 year (planned)[1]
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeRobotic lander
ManufacturerNPO Lavochkin
Launch mass1,750 kg (3,860 lb)[2]
Payload mass30 kg (66 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date13 July 2023 (planned)[3][4]
RocketSoyuz-2.1b / Fregat[5]
Launch siteVostochny Cosmodrome[6]
Moon lander
Landing siteBoguslavsky crater[7][8]
 

History

Nascent plans for what is now Luna 25 began in the late 1990s, with the evaluation of two spacecraft designs having taken place by 1998. Attempts to revive and complete the project continued throughout the 2000s and were punctuated by an aborted attempt at international cooperation via a merger with JAXA's now-cancelled Lunar-A orbiter, and pressure from another attempted cooperative lunar mission with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) (which continued without Russia's involvement).[10]

Delays in the 2010s came first from the significant rework and delay brought on by the failure of Phobos-Grunt in 2011. This is the point at which the modern Luna 25 design was developed. Later, work on the lander was slowed by resource pressures being placed upon spacecraft developer NPO Lavochkin, such as the weather satellite Elektro-L No.2 and the Spektr-RG observatory [11] as well the landing platform Russia was contributing to ExoMars 2020.[12]

By 2017, the propulsion system for the spacecraft was in assembly.[13]

Mission

Initial mission plans called for a lander and orbiter, with the latter also deploying impact penetrators. In its current form, Luna 25 is a lander only, with a primary mission of proving out the landing technology. The mission will carry 30 kg (66 lb) of scientific instruments, including a robotic arm for soil samples and possible drilling hardware.[2][14]

The launch is currently scheduled to occur in 13 July 2023[3] on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with Fregat upper stage, from Vostochny Cosmodrome.[15][7]

Science payload

The lander will feature a 30 kg (66 lb) payload composed by 9 notional science instruments:[16][1]

  • ADRON-LR, active neutron and gamma-ray analysis of regolith
  • ARIES-L, measurement of plasma in the exosphere
  • LASMA-LR, laser mass-spectrometer
  • LIS-TV-RPM, infrared spectrometry of minerals and imaging
  • PmL, measurement of dust and micro-meteorites
  • THERMO-L, measurement of the thermal properties of regolith
  • STS-L, panoramic and local imaging
  • Laser retroreflector, Moon libration and ranging experiments
  • BUNI, power and science data support

LINA-XSAN, a Swedish payload, was to fly with Luna 25, but delays to the launch date caused Sweden to cancel this plan. Instead, LINA-XSAN flew on Chang'e 4 in 2019.[17]

ESA's PILOT-D navigation demonstration camera was planned to be flown on this mission, but is already being procured from a commercial service provider and will fly along with them on their mission[18] due to continued international collaboration has been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.[19][20]

See also

References
  1. Carter, Jamie (26 July 2019). "A Soviet-Era "Moon Digger" Program Is Being Revived To Hunt For Water At The Moon's South Pole". Forbes. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  2. Krebs, Gunter (3 December 2019). "Luna-Glob (Luna 25)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  3. "First Moon mission in Russia's modern history set for July 13". TASS. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  4. "Запуск первой в истории современной России миссии на Луну может пройти в июле 2023 года" [The launch of the first mission to the Moon in the history of modern Russia may take place in July 2023]. TASS (in Russian). 19 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  5. Mitrofanov, Igor. "Luna-Glob" and "Luna-Resurs": science goals, payload and status (PDF). EGU General Assembly 2014.
  6. "Запуск станции «Луна-25» запланирован на май 2022 года" [The launch of the Luna-25 spacecraft is scheduled for May 2022]. Roscosmos (in Russian). 20 August 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  7. "Россия запустит космический аппарат на Луну 1 октября 2021 года" [Russia will launch a spacecraft to the moon on October 1, 2021] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  8. Russia's Luna-25 lunar landing station scheduled for 2019 Russian Aviation 25 January 2018
  9. "Missions to the Moon". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  10. Zak, Anatoly (19 June 2019). "Luna-Glob project". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  11. Zak, Anatoly (11 December 2017). "Luna-Glob (Luna-25) project in 2013". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  12. Zak, Anatoly (12 January 2018). "Development of the Luna-Glob project in 2014 and 2015". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  13. Zak, Anatoly (31 March 2018). "Luna-Glob's stop and go". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  14. Zak, Anatoly (9 October 2019). "The Luna-Glob lander". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  15. "Запуск миссии "Луна-25" с космодрома Восточный запланировали на 22 августа" [The launch of the Luna-25 mission from the Vostochny Cosmodrome was scheduled for August 22]. RIA Novosti (in Russian). 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  16. "Luna-25 (Luna-Glob Lander) Payload". Iki.rssi.ru.
  17. Pillet, Nicolas (25 June 2018). "Russia's Luna-Glob faces technical, political and ballistic issues". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  18. "ESA's PROSPECT lunar drill (originally scheduled to fly on Luna-27) will now fly on a NASA CLPS mission. ESA's PILoT-D (originally planned for Luna-25) navigation camera is "already being procured from a commercial service provider."". Twitter. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  19. Witze, Alexandra (11 March 2022). "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is redrawing the geopolitics of space". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-00727-x. PMID 35277688. S2CID 247407886. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  20. "Redirecting ESA programmes in response to geopolitical crisis". www.esa.int. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
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