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Roscosmos chief vows to turn Luna-27 mission into international lunar project

Russia's first lunar mission since the Soviet Union is planned for 2022 (Luna-25) to be followed by the Luna-26 probe in 2024, the Luna-27 station in 2025 and the Luna-28 project in 2027-2028

DUBAI, October 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Luna-27 automatic lunar station scheduled for launch to the Earth’s natural satellite in 2025 will be implemented jointly with international partners, Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin told a briefing at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress in Dubai on Tuesday.

"I believe that the Luna-27 mission will already be a full-fledged international project," Rogozin said.

The Roscosmos chief said he had discussed this project with French specialists who possessed water ice treatment technologies.

"Ice means water and hydrogen. This is actually fuel for rocket engines. So, we unexpectedly discussed this interesting project today. I invited their specialists to Russia and we already got in touch with our specialists," Rogozin said.

Russia's first lunar mission since the Soviet Union is planned for 2022 (Luna-25) to be followed by the Luna-26 probe in 2024, the Luna-27 station in 2025 and the Luna-28 project in 2027-2028.

The 72nd International Astronautical Congress is running at the Dubai World Trade Center under the aegis of the International Astronautical Federation on October 25-29. The congress has brought together the heads of space agencies from different countries, space industry representatives, equipment producers and scientists specializing in space-related problems. Specialists will demonstrate their achievements and discuss plans for future space exploration missions.

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