(Roscosmos)
The launch of the Russian lunar station Luna-25 has been postponed from October 2021 to May 2022.
This decision was made due to the need to conduct additional tests of all elements of the station in conditions as close as possible to space.
The development of the station Luna-25 (formerly "Luna-Glob") began in 1997.
The mission continues the series of Soviet stations Luna, which last landed on a natural satellite of the Earth in 1976.
Roscosmos expects that the station will operate in the region of the south pole of the Moon for about a year, receive samples of regolith and analyze their composition, including determining the content of water ice.
In addition, the mission's tasks include practicing the flight and landing in the near-polar region of the Moon, as well as researching the lunar exosphere.
The station consists of 2 main parts:
- A landing gear with a propulsion system
- An unpressurized instrument compartment, where service and scientific instruments, solar panels, and control and thermal control systems are located.
In total, Luna-25 will have 9 scientific instruments on board, including a manipulator complex with a bucket, which will make it possible to extract lunar regolith from a depth of 15-30 centimeters.
Initially, the launch of the station was planned for October 2021, but these terms were threatened due to the lack of two mission instruments.
- Bius-L from NPTSAP named after Pilyugin
- DISD-LR (Doppler speed and range meter) from the European company Vega.
In mid-August, NPO Lavochkin announced that it had received both devices, which are being tested.
Now Roscosmos has announced that it was postponing the launch date of Luna-25 to May 2022
The Soyuz-2 carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage from the Vostochny cosmodrome would launch the station into space.
Such a decision was caused by the need to conduct additional tests of all elements of the stations in conditions as close as possible to space.
As for the station itself, at the moment it is fully equipped with all devices.
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