Russia sets aside $33.5 million to build moon orbiter

The Russian government is setting aside the sum of $33.5 million to build the Luna-Resurs lunar orbiter, to be implemented by 2020 according to information published by the official government procurement website.

“The initial (maximum) price of the contract is 1.995 billion rubles,” reads a federal procurement document.

According to the website, the project will be financed from the federal government. The main contractor, the NPO Lavochkin aerospace company, will receive an advance payment of almost 1.6 billion rubles, or 80% of the contract’s total value.

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The orbiter is to be manufactured until February 29, 2020. Its weight should not exceed 2,200 kilograms.

The last Soviet lunar mission was sent in 1976 when the Luna-24 probe made a soft landing, collected soil samples and returned them to the Earth.

According to earlier reports, the lunar project is expected to resume in 2019, when the Luna-25 (formerly known as Luna-Glob) automated probe will be sent to explore the Moon’s South Pole. The module is expected to land in the Boguslavsky crater.

 

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