MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/. Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov told TASS that the space corporation is still discussing the Russian Academy of Sciences’ proposal to send two automated Luna-27 missions to the earth’s natural satellite.

"So far, everything goes as I’ve said in December. The plans are the same - we are planning to launch [the mission]," he told a TASS correspondent when asked whether any progress was reached on the issue of building and launching two spacecraft instead of one.

Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov said in December that the Russian space agency was considering the Russian Academy of Sciences’ proposal to build two spacecraft, Luna-27a and Luna-27b in order to boost reliability and guarantee the mission’s success.

In turn, scientific head of the Space Research Institute (IKI) and Academician Lev Zeleny told TASS that two landers will cost 30-35% more than a single one. Luna-27a has to land near the South Pole of the Moon while Luna-27b can go to the North Pole or the back side of the Moon if Luna-27a is successful.