Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Travel News .




MOON DAILY
Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015
by Staff Writers
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jan 17, 2013


Luna-Glob is the first of four missions planned before the creation of a fully robotic lunar base scheduled for after 2015.

Russia will launch a robotic lunar station in 2015, Federal Space Agency Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin said on Tuesday.

Luna-Glob will lift off from the Vostochny space port in Russia's Far East after several test launches, he said.

Luna-Glob is the first of four missions planned before the creation of a fully robotic lunar base scheduled for after 2015.

The orbiter will have a payload of 120 kilograms (260 pounds), 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 Program dating back to the late 1990s. It was put on hold due to financial restrictions and resurrected several years later. Initially scheduled for launch in 2012, the mission has been postponed twice, first to 2010 and then to 2014.

This past August Roscosmos announced a ten-million ruble ($300,000) tender to develop a blueprint of a heavy rocket carrier that would be capable of carrying manned spacecraft to the moon. The project is to be completed by May 31, 2013.

Popovkin previously said the country's planned manned spacecraft capable of flights to the moon will not fly until 2018.

Russia's space program suffered a slew of setbacks in recent years, most of them blamed on faulty hardware. The most recent mishap took place last December, when a botched launch of the Yamal-402 telecoms satellite led to the depletion of its fuel supply, shortening its orbit lifetime.

In November 2011, Russia launched the Phobos-Grunt probe, its most ambitious planetary mission in decades, designed to bring back rock and soil samples from the Martian moon Phobos. However, the probe got stuck in Earth's orbit after its engines failed to put it on course for the Red Planet. The doomed probe crashed in the Pacific Ocean last January after two months in orbit.

The setbacks resulted in a reshuffle at the Federal Space Agency in 2011. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees defense and space industries, announced late last year a switch to a holding-based model for the industry, which he said would be implemented by next March.

Source: RIA Novosti

.


Related Links
Roscosmos
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MOON DAILY
US, Europe team up for moon fly-by
Washington (AFP) Jan 16, 2013
The US and European space agencies on Wednesday announced a new partnership pairing a European cargo module with NASA's Orion space capsule, which aims to take astronauts into deep space. The new agreement covers Orion's first planned mission, set for 2017, which will take the spacecraft on an unmanned fly-by around the moon. But NASA has bigger goals for Orion, hoping it will one day ta ... read more


MOON DAILY
Africasat-1a to launch on first Ariane 5 launch in 2013

Roscosmos Releases Report On Proton Launch Anomaly

Russia plans replacement for Soyuz rocket

Arianespace's industry leadership will continue with 12 launcher family missions planned in 2013

MOON DAILY
Choosing the right people to go to Mars

ChemCam follows the 'Yellowknife Road' to Martian wet area

Mars image suggests ancient water flow

NASA Mars Rover Preparing to Drill Into First Martian Rock

MOON DAILY
Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Mission would drag asteroid to the moon

Russia designs manned lunar spacecraft

MOON DAILY
New Horizons Gets a New Year's Workout

Halfway Between Uranus and Neptune, New Horizons Cruises On

Dwarf planet Makemake lacks atmosphere

Keck Observations Bring Weather Of Uranus Into Sharp Focus

MOON DAILY
Earth-size planets common in galaxy

NASA's Hubble Reveals Rogue Planetary Orbit For Fomalhaut B

NASA, ESA Telescopes Find Evidence for Asteroid Belt Around Vega

Kepler Gets a Little Help From Its Friends

MOON DAILY
NASA Engineers Resurrect And Test Mighty F-1 Engine Gas Generator

NASA's Robotic Refueling Demo Set to Jumpstart Expanded Capabilities in Space

NASA Researchers Studying Advanced Nuclear Rocket Technologies

Russia develops new rocket fuel

MOON DAILY
China to launch 20 spacecrafts in 2013

Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

MOON DAILY
Russian astronomers discover new huge comet

Rogue asteroid a fifth bigger than thought: space agency

Herschel intercepts asteroid Apophis

Asteroid Impact Delivered Carbon To Giant Asteroid Vesta




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement