Luna 27
Luna 27 (Luna-Resurs 1 lander or Luna-Resource-1 lander)[3][4] is a planned lunar lander mission by the Roscosmos with collaboration by the European Space Agency (ESA) to send a lander to the South Pole–Aitken basin, an area on the far side of the Moon.[5][4][6] Its objective will be to detect and characterise lunar polar volatiles. The mission is a continuation of the Luna-Glob programme.[5] MissionThe purpose is to prospect for minerals, volatiles (nitrogen, water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, hydrogen, methane and sulfur dioxide), and lunar water ice in permanently shadowed areas of the Moon and investigate the potential use of these natural lunar resources.[5] On the long term, Russia considers building a crewed base on the Moon's far side that would bring scientific and commercial benefits.[5] Europe's participation in the mission received final approval at a meeting of ministers in December 2016. European Space Agency (ESA) will contribute with the development of a new type of automated landing system,[7] and will also be providing the 'PROSPECT' package, consisting of a drill (ProSEED), sample handling, and an analysis package (ProSPA).[8][9][10] The percussion drill is designed to go down to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) and collect cemented ice samples for an onboard miniaturised laboratory called ProSPA.[5][8] The scientific payload consists of fifteen instruments.[11] The lander mission was announced in November 2014 by Russia,[12] and its launch is planned for 2028.[1] Science payloadThe lander will feature 15 science instruments that will analyse the regolith, plasma in the exosphere, dust, and seismic activity.[13] The European Space Agency payloads under collaboration with Russia was planned to fly Package for Resource Observation and in-Situ Prospecting for Exploration, Commercial exploitation and Transportation (PROSPECT) program's ProSEED lunar sampling drill, ProSPA chemical laboratory and volatile analysis package and Exospheric Mass Spectrometer L-band (EMS-L) high-performance communications payload on this mission,[14][15] but the ProSEED and ProSPA will now fly on a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission in 2025 and the EMS-L will now fly on JAXA/ISRO's LUPEX lunar rover mission in 2026[16][17] due to continued international collaboration being thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.[18][19] See alsoReferences
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