Reuters: Science News: Russia plans to send probe to moon in 2015

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Russia plans to send probe to moon in 2015 Jan 15th 2013, 19:56 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News China's space activities raising U.S. satellite security concerns Mon, Jan 14 2013 Only political process can save Syria from "hell": envoy Sat, Dec 29 2012 After setbacks, Russia boosts space spending Thu, Dec 27 2012 Three-nation crew blasts off for space station Wed, Dec 19 2012 NASA crashes two probes into a mountain on the moon Tue, Dec 18 2012 Analysis & Opinion Russian Orthodox urge Kremlin restraint in new law punishing religious offences Depardieu would find heaven in Putin's Russia The Luna-Glob in an undated illustration. Credit: Reuters/via NASA MOSCOW | Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:56pm EST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will resume a long-dormant quest to explore the moon by sending an unmanned probe there in 2015, the head of the space agency was quoted as saying on Tuesday. The craft, called Luna-Glob, or Moon-Globe, will be carried by the first rocket to blast off from a new facility that Russia is building in its far eastern Amur region, Roskosmos director Vladimir Popovkin said, according to the Interfax news agency. "We will begin our exploration of the moon from there," he said of the new space centre that will decrease Russia's reliance of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the ex-Soviet nation Kazakhstan, which it leases. Russian space officials have said Luna-Glob would consist of an orbital module and a probe that would land on the moon and beam back information about samples it takes from the surface. The Soviet Union got a jump on the United States in the Cold War space race, sending a probe to the moon in 1959 and putting the first person into space in 1961. But the United States first put a man on the moon in 1969 and Russia has not done so. The last successful Soviet launch of a unmanned probe to the moon was in the 1970s, and Russia has suffered setbacks in its space program in recent years, including bungled satellite launches and the failure of a Mars probe in 2011. A successful rocket launch on Tuesday put three military satellites in orbit, the Defense Ministry said. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev approved a plan last month to spend 2.1 trillion roubles ($70 billion) on space industry development in 2013-2020, to pursue projects to explore the moon and Mars, among other things. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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