Russia will launch an unmanned spacecraft to the Moon in 2015, as part of its plan to establish a fully robotic lunar station.
The new Moon orbiter, called Luna-Glob will lift off from the Vostochny space port in Russia's Far East after several test launches, Federal Space Agency Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said. Luna-Glob is the first of four missions planned before the creation of a fully robotic lunar base scheduled for after 2015, 'Ria Novosti' reported.
The orbiter will have a payload of 120 kilogrammes, including equipment for astrophysics experiments, dust monitors, and plasma sensors to study ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. The Moon exploration project is part of the Federal Space Programme dating back to the late 1990s.
The new Moon orbiter, called Luna-Glob will lift off from the Vostochny space port in Russia's Far East after several test launches, Federal Space Agency Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said. Luna-Glob is the first of four missions planned before the creation of a fully robotic lunar base scheduled for after 2015, 'Ria Novosti' reported.
The orbiter will have a payload of 120 kilogrammes, including equipment for astrophysics experiments, dust monitors, and plasma sensors to study ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. The Moon exploration project is part of the Federal Space Programme dating back to the late 1990s.