MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. This year, the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences will start transitioning the scientific equipment for Luna 27, a planned lunar lander mission, to Russian-made components, a senior IKI researcher told TASS.
"This year, we will definitely work with" Luna 27, Igor Mitrofanov, who heads the Nuclear Planetology Department at IKI, said. "We will start using Russian-made equipment," he specified.
The researcher said these processes were necessitated by import substitution. "Previously, we designed equipment using foreign components that we could buy from our foreign colleagues. Now that the sanctions have been imposed, we will [be switching to] Russian-made components," Mitrofanov explained. According to him, researchers have to change design solutions amid the Western restrictions.
The Luna 26 mission was originally planned for 2024, Luna 27 for 2025, and Luna 28 for 2027-2028. Last fall, Mitrofanov told TASS that the launches might be postponed by up to two years because of import substitution.