Russia Should Shift Focus from the Moon’s South Pole to the North Pole
Russia should shift its focus from the moon’s south pole to the north pole, and if there isn’t enough funding to deploy two landers for the Luna-27 mission, launching just one lander would suffice, according to experts cited by Sputnik News on August 19.
Dr. Lev Zeleny, Scientific Director of the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), made a new proposal for the Luna-27 mission. Previously, scientists at RAS had suggested that the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) send two Luna-27 landers, named Luna-27a and Luna-27b, to the moon’s south and north poles. Initially, Roscosmos had only planned to launch one Luna-27 lander in 2028.
“I believe the right course of action is to focus on the moon’s north pole. We need to adjust our strategy, and if we can only deploy one Luna-27 lander, then let’s choose the one for the north pole,” Sputnik News quoted Zeleny as saying. According to him, by the time Luna-27 reaches the moon, the south pole will already be “crowded” with equipment from various countries.
China intends to send a lander to collect samples at the moon’s south pole, while the United States plans to send the VIPER rover there, in addition to a mission under the Artemis Accords. Moreover, India has already sent a lander to the south pole and is planning further missions.
Therefore, in this new moon race, Russia “shouldn’t follow the crowd” to avoid falling behind its competitors and should instead choose a different area, such as the moon’s north pole, according to the IKI Director. Russia’s first lunar exploration attempt in nearly half a century failed when the Luna-25 spacecraft lost control and crashed into the moon on August 20, 2023 (Moscow time).
