RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS The vision of the Russian Space Agency on the robotic settlements in the Moon Maxim Litvak Space Research Institute Russian Academy of sciences page 1 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS History/Heritage Zond-3 photos of far side of the Moon Luna-9 Luna-16 with Lunokhod-1 first landing samples of regolith page 2 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Main principles of Lunar Program page 3 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS 1. Lunar program shall include initial exploration/investigation stage to solve key, most important lunar tasks and to provide basis for following human exploration and utilization of lunar resources. 2. Lunar program shall be developed as a sequence of key projects/missions with increasing complexity where subsequent missions inherit and develop science results and technologies achieved in previous missions and projects. 3. Lunar program goals shall take into account current technology readiness level (including technologies developed by Soviet lunar program and other space agencies) and available funding resources. 4. Lunar Program shall start with robotic missions and continue with manned lunar missions, solving specific tasks at each stage to effectively approach strategic goal – human exploration of the Moon and creating long living lunar bases. 5. Lunar Program (primary goals) shall be based on national funding capabilities but allow and provides possibilities for close involvement of international cooperation. page 4 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Main goals of Lunar Program page 5 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS 1. NEW MOON SCIENCE . Origin and evolution . Polar regions and volatiles . Lunar exosphere and radiation environment. 2. NEW LUNAR TRANSPORT CAPABILITIES . To support robotic and human missions to lunar orbit and lunar surface. Lunar infrastructure on orbit and surface. page 6 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS 3. Reconnaissance and utilization of lunar resources . To create and support lunar base . Possible industry utilization. 4. Lunar observatories . Deep space observations . Solar system observations . Laboratories for medical and biology experiments, preparation to long living expeditions far away from Earth (to Mars) . Lunar polygon/facilities to test new technologies. page 7 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS NEW MOON science: Lunar polar volatiles page 8 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS NEW MOON science: Cometary & Interplanetary molecules Molecules in the interstellar medium and comets + and Moon Н2О page 9 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS NEW MOON science: Lunar botanic (and zoology!) page 10 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS NEW MOON science: Lunar Radio Observatory page 11 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS NEW MOON science: Lunar landers visiting and studying page 12 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Pathway of Moon exploration in the XXI century Robotic polar landers Lunar Polygon Lunar Base page 13 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Phase I - From investigation to exploration (2019 – 2030): 1) Characterization and mapping of recourses in polar regions. 2) Studies of lunar exosphere should be done to understand environment influence on hardware and man. 3) Cryogenic samples of lunar regolith should be delivered to Earth for studies and estimation of different regions for availability for Lunar Polygon. 4) First flights manned SC on near Moon orbit for workout and operation with robotic spacecraft on surface and docking on orbit. 5) New technologies and wide science investigation of polar regions should be developed as the base for next step to move from investigation to exploration. Phase II – Lunar polygon (2030 – 2040): 1) First elements of infrastructure in interesting and perspective polar areas of Moon (robotic modules, habitant module, power module etc.) 2) Manned transportation system for delivery of cargo and cosmonauts to near lunar orbit or on lunar base page 14 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Robotic precursors 2016-2025 page 15 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Moon of the XX century: Equator page 16 Motivation: Orbital observations of water ice at Polar areas of the Moon Water distribution in regolith Water distribution in regolith Water distribution in regolith according to according to M3 (USA) data from according to LPNS data from data from LEND (Russia) onboard Lunar Chandrayan-1 (India) Lunar Prospector (NASA) Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA) OH/H2O Н О 2 Н2О Н2О Possible ice depths according to data Observation of surface ice frost Detection of water vapor in Cabeus from Diviner onboard Lunar according to data from LAMP onboard Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA) during impact experiment «LCROSS» Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA) (NASA) Н О 2 Н2О Н2О page 17 Latest Moon water polar maps derived from LEND/LRO* 3S 4S 2S 6S 7S * 8S Index Latitude Longitude 훏 WEH (wt %) Index Latitude Longitude 훏 WEH (wt %) +0.07 1N 87.3° 64.3° 0.80±0.02 0.44±0.06 1S -84.5º -47.3º 0.77±0.02 0.54−0.06 +0.06 2N 86.2° 51.3° 0.82±0.02 0.40−0.05 2S -88.0º 53.8º 0.78±0.01 0.51±0.04 +0.09 3N 80.3° 176.8° 0.82±0.03 0.40−0.08 3S -87.3º 1.8º 0.80±0.01 0.44±0.04 4N 85.5° 139.3° 0.82±0.02 0.39±0.05 4S -84.8º 32.3º 0.83±0.02 0.37±0.05 5N 88.8° 116.3° 0.82±0.01 0.39±0.04 5S -88.8º -107.3º 0.83±0.01 0.36±0.03 +0.07 +0.11 6N 84.5° 153.8° 0.83±0.02 0.37−0.06 6S -77.8º 80.8º 0.84±0.04 0.34−0.10 +0.08 7N 78.0° -170.8° 0.83±0.03 0.36±0.09 7S -83.6º 99.8º 0.84±0.03 0.34−0.07 +0.07 8S -82.9º 127.3º 0.84±0.03 0.34−0.06 * - accepted (2016) to ICARUS LRO issue page 18 Latest Moon water polar maps derived from LEND/LRO Haworth, Shoemaker and Faustini craters Cabeus crater PSR regions are marked by black contours page 19 RUSSIANLAMP LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS LEND Heterogeneity of volatiles distribution Search for possible correlation (similarities and differences) between various mapping data of lunar polar regions. LRO data are presented: LEND neutron map, Map of UV albedo from LAMP and predications from Diviner about possible ice depths. White circles on all maps show where observed data could indicate presence of subsurface/surficial ice distribution. Observations show significant heterogeneity of volatiles distribution not only across the surface but also among distinguished permanently shadowed regions DIVINER page 20 Modelling of water equivalent hydrogen distribution as a function of depth: Need to verify orbital observations with a ground truth measurements Cabeus region Dry layer Homogeneously distributed hydrogen • Water ice depositions at Cabeus and Shoemaker spreads out of PSRs at sunlit areas. Water ice may be preserved only under top dry regolith layer at these sunlit regions. This provides that water ice preserved by a +ퟓ.ퟏ +ퟐ.ퟕ dry layer of regolith. In case of 1 meter of dry layer it may be ퟏퟎ. ퟗ−ퟑ.ퟑ wt% of WEH at Cabeus and ퟗ. ퟒ−ퟐ.ퟎ wt% at Shoemaker craters (Sanin et al., 2016, Icarus) . page 21 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Goals of the 1st stage of Russian Lunar Program: Robotic Precursors Goal 1: Study of mineralogical, chemical, elemental and isotopic content of regolith and search for a volatiles in regolith of polar area of Moon. Goal 2: Study of plasma, neutral and dust exosphere of Moon and interaction of space environment with Moon’ surface at poles. Goal 3: Study dynamic of daily processes at lunar poles, including thermal property variations of subsurface layers of regolith and evolution of hydration and volatiles. Goal 4: Study of inner structure of Moon by means of seismic, radio and laser ranging experiments. Goal 5: Preparation for future exploration of Moon and utilization of lunar resources page 22 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Luna-25 Expected results from Luna-25 (Luna-Glob) mission Technology: Re-design of soft landing technology Pole-Earth radio link tests and experience Thermal design validation Robotic arm testing and validation Science: Mechanical/thermal properties of polar regolith IR composition measurements of polar regolith Laser ablation measurements and testing of polar regolith samples Water content and elements abundance in the shallow subsurface of the polar regolith Plasma and neutral exosphere at the pole Dust exosphere at the pole Thermal variations of the polar regolith page 23 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Expected results from Luna-26 Luna-26 (Luna-Resurs-Orbiter) mission Technology: Pole-orbit UHF radio link tests and experience Orbital operations Science: Luna-27 landing sites candidates Global science in different wave-lengths, gamma-rays and neutrons Space plasma in the lunar vicinity page 24 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS Expected results from Luna-27 Luna-27 (Luna-Resurs Lander) mission Technology: High precision landing and hazard avoidance Pole-orbiter UHF radio link tests and experience Cryogenic drill testing and validation Science: Mechanical/thermal/compositional properties of polar regolith within 2 meters Water content and elements abundance in the shallow subsurface of the polar regolith Plasma, neutral and dust exosphere at the pole Seismometry and high accuracy ranging page 25 RUSSIAN LUNAR EXPLORATION MISSIONS The sequence of Russian lunar robotic missions 2024 1976 2021 Luna-24 Luna-29 (Luna-Resource-2) 2020 Lunohod mission (3000 kg) 2018-19 Luna-28 (Luna-Grunt) Cryogenic samples return from South pole Luna-27 (3000 kg) (Luna-Resurs_Lander) Studies of South Pole regolith and exosphere (2200/810 kg) Luna-26 High accuracy landing Joint (Luna-Resurs-Orbiter) Mission Global orbital studies of Cryogenic Drilling LPSR the Moon Ground Luna-25 Segment Scientific Instruments