The Russian Academy of Sciences commented on Putin's statement about Russia's resumption of the lunar program
Vladimir Putin recalled the need to send the Luna-25 scientific mission this year. About the history of its transfers, underfunding and plans to attract Chinese partners, he tells "Газета.Ru ".
Russia intends to resume the domestic lunar program. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the ceremony of awarding state awards to Russian cosmonauts at the Vostochny cosmodrome.
According to him, work will continue on the creation of a new generation transport ship and nuclear space energy technologies, where the country has a very good foundation and "an absolutely clear advantage." "We will resume the lunar program, we are talking about the launch of the Luna-25 automatic robotic spacecraft from the Vostochny cosmodrome," TASS reports the president's words.
"For the third quarter, the Luna-25 station should be implemented. Will we make it in the third quarter?" - he turned to the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin. "They should. The launch window closes in the third quarter," he confirmed.
The fulfillment of the stated objectives of the Luna-25 mission promises Russia important scientific discoveries. Despite the fact that the Moon is considered a cold anhydrous body, data from orbit clearly indicate that in the circumpolar latitudes, where Luna-25 will land, there are ice deposits, especially in eternally shaded large craters, the bottom of which never gets sunlight. The discovery of this ice at the landing site (and there will be a special manipulator and instruments for analysis on board the Moon) will open up prospects for the use of water by humans and as a source of rocket fuel in future manned missions, scientists are sure.
Luna-25 is the first Russian lunar station in more than 40 years, the launch of which has been postponed for the last few years, and in Roscosmos itself the project is called the main "long-term construction".
Initially, the launch was planned for 2014. But the constant postponements of the mission have already forced foreign partners to withdraw from it even before the aggravation of political relations. So, Swedish scientists left the project without placing their Lina-Exan device on the lander.
Initially, the start of the mission was planned for 2014, but in the end it was postponed several times. In March 2018, Vladimir Putin, in Andrei Kondrashov's film, spoke about the launch of the lunar mission in 2019, as a result, it was postponed again due to unavailability - to 2021.
In August 2021, it was moved again, the number of transfers was then estimated by Academician Marov, who took part in several Soviet interplanetary missions, including the delivery of lunar soil to Earth. "I can say that the launch has been postponed to next year. Most likely - May. This year, the launch of Luna-25 will not take place. Only in my memory, the postponement of the launch of the project happens for the seventh time," the academician said then "Газете.Ru ".
In 2021, "Gazeta.Ru" told about the delivery to Lavochkin's NGO of the last two missing service devices of the mission - "Bius-L" from the Pilyugin NPCAP and the DISD-LR device from the Vega concern. With the delivery of the second device, which Lavochkin's NGO planned to receive back in June 2021, there was a delay, which led to another postponement.
"Currently, we have entered the final phase of the Luna-25 ground tests - these are electrical and radio engineering tests that are being conducted at the NPO. Lavochkina. As for the equipment, the main equipment has been developed. The only thing is that we have not completed the tests of the DISD-LR ground device. However, the flight instrument itself was manufactured, delivered to the Lavochkin NGO, installed in the device and is now being tested as part of it," Pavel Kazmerchuk, the chief designer of the mission, recently said.
"It is very good that Vladimir Vladimirovich supported this mission. As Ostap Bender said, only an insurance policy gives a guarantee, but according to the information that I have, work is underway at Lavochkin's NGO, our scientific part has already been completed, and we have to get into the window that closes in the fall of 2022," he told the newspaper.En" Academician Lev Zeleny, scientific director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, - it is important that this device not only flew away, but also flew."
The postponement of the launch of Luna-25 automatically meant a shift in the 26th and 27th missions planned for it, for the development of which, as scientists admit, there is catastrophically not enough money. The Luna-26 mapping mission is scheduled for 2024, Luna-27 for ground exploration is expected in 2025, Luna-28 for lunar soil sampling and testing the landing scheme of Russian cosmonauts - in 2027-2028.
"We are never satisfied with financing them, especially now there are delays in it, but we hope and insist on continuing these projects, because the lunar program has value only in its entirety," Lev Zeleny noted. According to him, now in the current conditions, Chinese partners, not Western ones, will play an important role in subsequent missions to the Moon.
"The planned interaction with China is based not so much on Luna-25, but on the results of Luna-26, 27 and further expeditions," the academician added.
Pavel Kotlyar
