Space & Astronomy

EU and Russia plan new mission to the moon

By T.K. Randall
October 16, 2015

Image: Full Moon
Credit: Gregory H. Revera / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) In preparation for such an undertaking the space agencies are first planning to launch several robotic missions designed to assess whether there is enough water and other raw materials available on the lunar surface to make oxygen and fuel.

"We have to go to the Moon," said Prof Igor Mitrofanov of the Space Research Institute in Moscow.

"The 21st Century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilization, and our country has to participate in this process."

Unlike during the space race however when Russia and the US competed against one another, all future endeavors in this area will focus a lot more heavily on international co-operation."We have an ambition to have European astronauts on the Moon," said Bérengère Houdou of the European Space Research and Technology Centre. "There are currently discussions at international level going on for broad cooperation on how to go back to the Moon."

The first robotic mission, which will be called Luna 27, will aim to study in detail the moon's south pole which scientists believe could be an ideal place for a future manned settlement.

"The south pole of the Moon is unlike anywhere we have been before," said Dr James Carpenter, ESA's lead scientist on the project.

"The environment is completely different, and due to the extreme cold there you could find large amounts of water-ice and other chemistry which is on the surface, and which we could access and use as rocket fuel or in life-support systems to support future human missions we think will go to these locations."

Source: BBC News

Tags: Moon, ESA, Russia