Russia still had ambitions to explore the Moon as the United States. Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) said it will continue the Moon exploration in 2015 and 2017 Russia will launch the Luna-Resurs and the Luna-Glob lunar missions, using a Soyuz-2.1a and Soyuz-2.1b rocket, respectively, with a Fregat upper stage.
Both missions will deliver a lander on the surface of the Moon, carrying similar scientific payload, the main difference being that Luna-Resurs will also comprise an Indian rover and a surface-drilling equipment. According to the Interfax news agency, Director of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, said the spacecraft called Luna-Glob will be the first rocket took off from a new facility in the far eastern Amur region.
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| Luna Resurs and Luna Glob misisons scenario. (Picture from: http://lunamissions.wordpress.com/) |
"We will begin our exploration of the Moon from there," he said of the new space centre that will decrease Russia's reliance of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the ex-Soviet nation Kazakhstan, which it leases.
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| Landing concept for Luna Resurs and Luna Glob. (Picture from: http://lunamissions.wordpress.com/) |
The Russian space agency officials said Luna-Glob will carry orbital module and spacecraft that will land on the Moon. Rides charge sending back the necessary information about the sample from the surface of the Moon.
The Soviet Union never surpassing the United States in the space race when successfully sending spacecraft to the Moon in 1959. Russia also first put the first into space in 1961.
However, the United States became the first country to be able to put man on the Moon in 1969, while Russia has not been able to do so.
However, the United States became the first country to be able to put man on the Moon in 1969, while Russia has not been able to do so.
The latest unmanned spacecraft to the Moon which was a success came in 1970. However, since the Russian space program just continues to decline, especially in recent years. Including the failure of satellites and spacecraft launch to Mars in 2011. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, on Tuesday / January 15, 2013 that the rocket launched managed to place three Russian military satellite in orbit.
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| The architecture of the Luna-Glob lander as of the end of 2010. The soil-sampling robotic arm can be seen on left. An additional surface-drilling hardware could be included, with the total mass of science payloads onboard the lander reaching 30 kilograms. (Picture from: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/) |
The Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev approved a plan last month to spend 2.1 trillion roubles ($70 billion) on space industry development in 2013-2020, to pursue projects to explore the Moon and Mars, among other things. *** [EKA | FROM VAROUS SOURCES | REUTERS | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 4121]
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