Luna 27

Summary

Luna 27 (Luna-Resurs 1 lander or Luna-Resource-1 lander)[3][4] is a planned lunar lander mission by the Roscosmos with collaboration by the European Space Agency (ESA) to send a lander to the South Pole–Aitken basin, an area on the far side of the Moon.[5][4][6] Its objective will be to detect and characterise lunar polar volatiles. The mission is a continuation of the Luna-Glob programme.[5]

Luna 27
Maquette of Luna 27 Moon lander
NamesLuna-Resurs 1 lander
Luna-Resource-1 lander
Mission typeTechnology, reconnaissance
OperatorRoscosmos
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftLander
Powerwatts
Start of mission
Launch date2028 (planned)[1]
RocketAngara A5[2]
Launch siteVostochny, Site 1A
ContractorRoscosmos
Moon lander
← Luna 26
Luna 28 →
 

Mission edit

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 lunar resources.[5] On the long term, Russia considers building a crewed base on the Moon's far side that would bring scientific and commercial benefits.[5]

Europe's participation in the mission received final approval at a meeting of ministers in December 2016. European Space Agency (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 drill (ProSEED), sample handling, and an analysis package (ProSPA).[8][9][10] 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.[5][8] The scientific payload consists of fifteen instruments.[11]

The lander mission was announced in November 2014 by Russia,[12] and its launch is planned for 2028.[1]

Science payload edit

The lander will feature 15 science instruments that will analyse the regolith, plasma in the exosphere, dust, and seismic activity.[13]

The European Space Agency payloads under collaboration with Russia was planned to fly Package for Resource Observation and in-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Commercial exploitation and Transportation (PROSPECT) program's ProSEED lunar sampling drill, ProSPA chemical laboratory and volatile analysis package and Exospheric Mass Spectrometer L-band (EMS-L) high-performance communications payload on this mission,[14][15] but the ProSEED and ProSPA will now fly on a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission in 2025 and the EMS-L will now fly on JAXA/ISRO's LUPEX lunar rover mission in 2026[16][17] due to continued international collaboration being thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.[18][19]

The notional instrument payload includes:

  • 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
  • LINA, measurement of plasma and neutrals
  • PmL, measurement of dust and micro-meteorites
  • Radio beacon, high-power radio communication
  • RAT, radio measurements of the thermal properties of the regolith
  • SEISMO-LR, seismometer
  • Spectrometer, UV and optical imaging of mineral composition
  • 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

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b @katlinegrey (11 August 2023). "Yuri Borisov: Roscosmos plans to launch #Luna26 in 2027, Luna-27 – in 2028, and Luna-28 – in 2030 or later. After that, the next goal will be a crewed mission to the Moon" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "Russia to launch Luna-27 lunar lander mission atop Angara rocket from Vostochny spaceport". TASS. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  3. ^ Missions to the Moon Luna-27, The Planetary Society
  4. ^ a b "ESA's plans for Lunar Exploration" (PDF). European Space Agency (ESA). 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e Ghosh, Pallab (16 October 2015). "Europe and Russia mission to assess Moon settlement". BBC News. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Russia-ESA Lunar Exploration Cooperation: Luna Mission Speed Dating". European Space Agency (ESA). 17 February 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  7. ^ Low-cost clocks for landing on the Moon 26 October 2017 ESA
  8. ^ a b "PROSPECTing the Moon" (PDF). European Space Agency (ESA). 18 May 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  9. ^ About PROSPECT ESA Accessed on 4 September 2019
  10. ^ "ProSPA: Analysis of Lunar Polar Volatiles and ISRU Demonstration on the Moon" (PDF).
  11. ^ Luna-27 (Luna-Resurs-Lander) payload Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) 2017
  12. ^ "Luna-Resurs lander (Luna-27)". RussianSpaceWeb.com. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  13. ^ Luna 27 (Luna-Resurs-Lander) payload Russian Space Research Institute 2017 Accessed February 17, 2018
  14. ^ "ESA - Exploration of the Moon - About PROSPECT". exploration.esa.int. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  15. ^ "LUNAR DRILL | Astronika". astronika.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 25 November 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  16. ^ "ISRO's next Moon mission in collaboration with Japanese space agency gathers steam". THE ECONOMIC TIMES. 23 August 2023.
  17. ^ "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.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ "Redirecting ESA programmes in response to geopolitical crisis". www.esa.int. Retrieved 14 April 2022.

External links edit

  • Lunar and Planetary Department Moscow University
  • Soviet Luna Chronology
  • Exploring the Moon: Luna Missions