Luna-Glob (Russian: Луна-Глоб, meaning Lunar sphere) is a Moon exploration programme by Roscosmos meant to progress toward the creation of a fully robotic lunar base. When completed, the programme is intended to continue with crewed lunar missions, starting with a crewed orbiter spacecraft called Orel.[1]
The programme is based on plans dating back to 1997. Due to the 1998 Russian financial crisis however, the programme's first mission, the Luna 25 lander, was put on hold, only to be revived a few years later. Initially scheduled for launch in 2012[2] by a Soyuz-2 rocket,[3] the first mission has been delayed many times, first to 2014, then to 2015[4][5] and 2016[6][7] and 2018[8] and 2019.[9] Russia's Roscosmos approved a model of the Luna 25 lander in 2017.[10]
Luna 25 was successfully launched on 11 August 2023 but crashed on the Moon's surface on 19 August due to an anomalous orbit lowering maneuver;[11] Luna 26 is planned to be launched in 2027, Luna 27 in 2028, Luna 28 in 2030, and Luna 29, Luna 30 and 31 in the 2030s.