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Luna 25 (Luna-Glob Lander)

Luna-Glob [Lavochkin]

The Russian lunar lander mission Luna-Glob or Luna 25 will be the next Russian lunar mission after a decades-long hiatus.

After a very convoluted definition process, going from orbiter missions with impactors and small landers, to combined orbiter and lander missions, the mission was finally developed as a lunar polar lander.

The lander will land near the Lunar south pole at the Boguslavsky crater. It will carry a 30 kg science payload containing a soil-sampling robotic arm and possibly additional surface-drilling hardware.

Luna 25 will feature a 30 kg payload composed by 9 notional science instruments:

  • ADRON-LR, active neutron and gamma-ray analysis of regolith
  • ARIES-L, measurement of plasma in the exosphere
  • LASMA-LR, laser mass-spectrometer
  • LIS-TV-RPM, infrared spectrometry of minerals and imaging
  • PmL, measurement of dust and micro-meteorites
  • THERMO-L, measurement of the thermal properties of regolith
  • STS-L, panoramic and local imaging
  • Laser retroreflector, Moon libration and ranging experiments
  • BUNI, power and science data support

ESA's Pilot-D navigation camera was to be flown on Luna-25, but was removed due to sanctions resulting from the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Launch is planned on a Soyuz-2-1b Fregat rocket, either from Baikonur or Vostoichny. Although a launch in 2018 or 2019 was baselined, it was delayed to at least 2022. Due to software issues, the launch was postponed to 2023.

Nation: Russia
Type / Application: Lunar lander
Operator:
Contractors: NPO Lavochkin
Equipment:
Configuration:
Propulsion:
Power: Solar cells, RTG, batteries
Lifetime: > 1 year
Mass: ~1750 kg
Orbit:
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
Luna 25 (Luna-Glob Lander) - 2023 Vo LC-1S Soyuz-2-1b Fregat

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