Luna 25 (Luna-Glob lander) is a lunar lander built and operated by the Russian space agency Roscosmos that will attempt to land at the Boguslavsky crater near the lunar south pole.

There are two primary science objectives: to study the composition of the polar regolith and to analyze the plasma and dust components of the lunar polar exosphere.

The lander has a four-legged base containing the landing rockets and propellant tanks, an upper compartment that holds the solar panels, communication equipment, onboard computers, and most of the science apparatus.

Dry mass is about 800 kg, and it is expected to have roughly 950 kg of propellant at launch. The lander has a 1.6 meter-long Lunar Robotic Arm (LRA, of Lunar Manipulator Complex) to remove and collect the surface regolith to depths of 25 cm. The LRA is equipped with a scoop (175 cubic cm volume) and a sample acquisition tool, a 4.7 cm long tube with an internal diameter of 1.25 cm.

The arm has four degrees of freedom/rotations: azimuthal, shoulder, elbow, and wrist/scoop. The total mass of the LRA is 5.5 kg, and it uses 30 W nominal, and 50 W maximum power.

There are six science instruments onboard

ADRON-LR is a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer to study the surface regolith.

ARIES-L detects charged particles and neutrals in the polar exosphere.

LIS-TV-RPM, an infrared spectrometer, measures surface water and OH and is mounted on the LRA.

The LASMA-LR mass spectrometer will measure the composition of regolith samples (1 - 2 cubic cm) from the LRA using laser ablation.

The PML detector will study dust in the polar exosphere.

STS-L is a panoramic and local imaging system. Data transmission rates back to Earth are planned to be 4 Mbits/sec.

The launch will be on a Soyuz-2 Fregat into Earth orbit. It will fire the Fregat again to go into a lunar transfer orbit and from lunar orbit it will drop down to the surface. Landing will be in the region of the lunar south pole, the main landing site is at 69.545 S, 43.544 E, north of Boguslavsky crater.

The reserve landing site is at 68.773 S and 21.21 E, southwest of Manzini crater. Both coordinate points are centers of 15 x 30 km landing ellipses. The lander is expected to operate on the lunar surface, studying surface regolith and exospheric dust and particles, for one year.

Caption courtesy of NASA

Meet part of Roscosmos’s 21st century version of the Soyuz rocket. 

One of the main upgrades included in the Soyuz 2.1b is a completely digital flight control system -- not a small task when the Soyuz rocket was first designed in the 1960s.

Stats

Height: 46.3 m (152 ft)

Diameter: 2.95 m (9 ft 8 in)

Mass: 312,000 kg (688,000 lb)

Stages: 2 or 3

This digital Flight Control System allows for greater precision and launch target accuracy.

The Soyuz 2.1b also sports an uprated Blok-I second stage engine, the RD-0124, which provides increased performance.

It was the second of three Soyuz 2 variants to fly, taking its first launch on December 27th, 2006.

The Soyuz 2.1b variant flies under two different national flags and has two different names for the same configuration.

When launching from Baikonur or Plesetsk, the rocket flies as part of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos. For these missions, it is known as the Soyuz 2.1b.

When sold to Arianespace, the European Space Agency's launch management company, the rocket sports a few European modifications, like a European payload adapter and a European flight termination system.

When it flies for Europe, the rocket is known as the Soyuz ST-B.

Image: ESA

Vostochny Cosmodrome

When the Soviet Union collapsed on December 25th, 1991, Russia inherited the Union's space program... and instantly found themselves with a problem.  Their primary launch site was not in their country but in what was now the newly independent Kazakhstan.

The two countries entered into a mutually beneficial agreement for Russia to lease the Baikonur Cosmodrome, with a current annual payment of $115 million (USD).

To reduce their reliance on a foreign country’s launch facilities, Russia committed to building a new cosmodrome, this time in the Russian Far East.

Vostochny, which means “eastern” in Russian, is a primarily commercial launch center, though military missions can take place from the site.

Proposals call for the cosmodrome to eventually host 44% of all Russian launches, including human missions.

Numerous delays with construction and corruption have delayed the spaceport’s high flight level use. Of the originally planned seven (two for crew) launch pads, only one has been built for Soyuz 2, a second is under construction for the Angara rocket, and no crew launch pads have been started.

The one completed pad is Site 1S, “S” standing for Soyuz, which conducted its first launch in April 2016.

Image: A Soyuz rocket on Site 1S. Credit: Kremlin