“We can create everything ourselves”: a scientist of the Russian Academy of Sciences - about the lunar program of the Russian Federation and international cooperation in space exploration

- In mid-April, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of the lunar program.

In particular, they discussed the launch of the Luna-25 space robotic complex.

What are the tasks of this apparatus and have they changed in connection with the new anti-Russian sanctions?

- Luna-25 is the first Russian lunar lander after the Soviet Luna-24, which was launched in 1976.

The peculiarity of the current mission is that the device will be landed in the vicinity of the South Pole of the Earth's satellite - no one has landed on the poles before.

Data obtained earlier from lunar orbit suggests that there must be permafrost in the area.

It is assumed that the apparatus is exploring the lunar polar regolith (lunar soil. -

) in order to experimentally confirm the presence of water in it.

It can serve as an important resource for the future program of lunar exploration, provide bases on it with oxygen and hydrogen.

• Employees of NPO named after S.A.

  Lavochkin at the Luna-25 spacecraft

• RIA News

• © Valery Melnikov

— How will the Russian lunar program develop?

How many more devices are planned to be sent to the moon?

- Now we are preparing for the first stage of the program using automatic devices, thanks to which preliminary reconnaissance of the poles and resources of the moon will be carried out.

But in the next seven to ten years, the stage of manned lunar flights will begin.

Moreover, this will not be a “lunar race” between space powers: a systematic and gradual expansion of the lunar infrastructure is expected.

The Earth satellite will become similar to Antarctica: there will also be lunar stations from different countries, where scientific and engineering research will be carried out, including the development of technologies for future flights into deep space, to Mars.

- Recently, the European Space Agency (ESA) suspended participation in the implementation of Russian lunar programs.

The head of Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, also commented on this statement and stressed that European devices would be removed from all Russian devices.

Are there analogues of this equipment in Russia?

How will import substitution proceed in this area?

— Ten years ago, the European Space Agency came up with an initiative to participate in Russian lunar projects.

European specialists asked to install their scientific instrument, Pilot-D, on the Luna-25 apparatus.

This is a television camera for shooting the lunar surface during landing.

However, after the Europeans announced the suspension of cooperation, this camera was removed from the board of Luna-25.

This will not cause any damage to the project, since the data of the device was not planned to be used for flight control and during landing.

At the same time, the Europeans planned to conduct flight tests of their device aboard Luna-25, but now they have lost this opportunity. 

• Model of the spacecraft "Luna-27"

• RIA News

• © Evgeny Biyatov

For the Russian apparatus Luna-27, they also proposed to manufacture the PROSPECT drilling rig, designed to extract samples of lunar matter, which analytical instruments will have to study directly on board.

We agreed and included PROSPECT in the Luna-27 scientific equipment complex.

However, in parallel, we began to develop our own drilling rig - in any case, it would be useful to us for use in future projects.

Therefore, ESA's refusal to supply PROSPECT did not create a serious problem for the lunar program.

The only thing is that now you have to slightly change the work plan for the project and use domestic development.

- With which countries is it planned to develop cooperation within the framework of the lunar program?

— Research cosmonautics is an excellent area for international cooperation.

Regardless of the political situation, we still continue to interact with other countries on the International Space Station.

Joint work of different space powers -

this is the correct and reasonable approach.

Therefore, I am sure that we will cooperate in the exploration of the Moon with both China and India, and in the future we will also return to cooperation with NASA and ESA.

• RIA News

• © Sergey Mamontov

— Are there any problems with the use of foreign components in Russian devices?

— We faced a formal ban on the supply of any foreign components that were previously actively offered to us by Western firms.

Moreover, it was often more expedient to buy a finished product than to make your own.

You need to understand that this is not necessarily some kind of know-how.

Rather, this situation can be compared with a store, when they choose the most suitable product in terms of parameters, regardless of who produced it.

And now we are in the following situation: we have already developed and tested models of devices with partial use of previously available foreign components, and now they refuse to sell them to us.

And now, in order to manufacture on-board instruments, it will be necessary to change the design of a part of the already developed equipment.

This is necessary to switch to an affordable domestic equipment with slightly different characteristics.

We are definitely

As for the use of foreign components associated with the export of technologies, this is a much more complicated issue.

Sanctions have been in effect in this area for a long time - foreign firms and scientific organizations protect their developments.

However, we operate in a similar way.

I can say that only domestic technologies are used in Russian lunar projects.

- Can such cooperation arise between Russia and other countries in the current situation?

—

Maybe.

But, of course, it should be a two-way street, that is, a sufficiently high level of mutual trust is assumed.

If, for example, we expect to cooperate with foreign partners - with China, India, or even with Europe and America - the conditions and mutual obligations for the exchange of technologies must be reliably protected so that their use is fully consistent with existing agreements.

At the same time, it is important for us to understand that Russia will also be able to obtain technologies that are of interest to it, saving time and costs for their development.

In principle, we can develop and create everything ourselves, but if it is possible to obtain some technology from outside, then this may be appropriate.

• Project of the International Scientific Lunar Station

• © Roscosmos

- Earlier, Russia and China agreed on the preparation of a roadmap for the International Scientific Lunar Station and its subsequent presentation.

What is meant by MNLS?

What are her prospects?

—

This is a look into the future.

Now the PRC is successfully launching its vehicles to the Moon and successfully conducting experiments.

Russia is now also preparing the first stage of lunar exploration with automatic devices.

Here we do not depend on our Chinese partners, just as they do not depend on us.

But we look to the future, since cooperation is beneficial, since its participants create part of a joint project, and receive the entire scientific result in full.

Therefore, we are discussing joint exploration of the Moon with our Chinese partners.

This promising program is called the International Scientific Lunar Station.

At its first stage, a simple exchange of scientists is supposed.

For example, the Chinese will be able to participate in the experiments that Russia is conducting - it is about processing the received data, measurements, interpretation, and obtaining new knowledge.

At the next stage, experiments will probably be carried out jointly, when each of the parties will manufacture their own scientific instruments for installation on board the partner's spacecraft.

And then, in the long term, there may be projects where the entire space complex will be created by both partners.

The INLS program today is more of a roadmap for the development of our cooperation.

- The other day, the deputy head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), Wu Yanhua, said that China plans to develop technology to protect the Earth from collisions with dangerous asteroids.

Will Russia participate in this project?

 - All space agencies are now concerned about this large-scale problem.

We live in a planetary system where there are asteroids that pose a potential risk.

A collision with them will lead to such changes in the natural environment on Earth that are incompatible with modern forms of life, in particular, human civilization.

And if nothing is done, such a collision is inevitable in the future.

And this, of course, is a problem that the international space program must solve.

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Erik Simonsen

Task number one is discovery.

Such “patrolling” of the solar system should be provided in order to identify potentially dangerous asteroids in advance and assess the likelihood of their collision with the Earth.

The second question is how to neutralize this threat.

It is possible that we will have to change the trajectory of a dangerous celestial body.

From the point of view of physics, this is possible, but gigantic efforts and huge financial costs will be required.

Therefore, all world space powers must unite in order to implement a project in the future that will allow us to preserve our civilization.