Luna-Glob

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.

  1. ^ The vision of the Russian Space Agency on the robotic settlements in the Moon. Maxim Litvak, IKI/Roscosmos. 2016.
  2. ^ "Fundamental Space Studies". Russian Federal Space Agency. Archived from the original on 7 April 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
  3. ^ "Lavochkin begins phase B work for Luna-Glob 1 orbiter". FlightGlobal. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
  4. ^ Российский зонд Луна-Глоб отправится исследовать Луну в 2015 году
  5. ^ "First Russian moon mission delayed". Space Exp. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Roscosmos: Fundamental space researches". Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  7. ^ "Future planetary missions". Space Exp. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  8. ^ Russia will launch Luna spacecraft in 2018
  9. ^ "Russian Moon missions face three-year delay". Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  10. ^ "Russia presenting model of Luna-25 Moon exploration spacecraft at Le Bourget Air Show 2015" (in Russian). TASS. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  11. ^ Zak, Anatoly (19 August 2023). "Luna-Glob mission lifts off". RussianSpaceWeb. Retrieved 20 August 2023.