Re: China and the Moon
August 2023, Director General of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov spoke about the future of the Russian lunar program
🌑🚀In the future, the Moon will become a launching pad for exploration of deep space and distant planets.
Director General of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov spoke about the future of the Russian lunar program - the launch of Luna-25 was the first step.
▪️Luna-25 will enter the circumlunar orbit on August 16. A soft landing is scheduled for 21 August.
▪️The station will conduct a range of studies - first of all, the search for water. If successful, the prospect of building a lunar base and industrial use opens up.
▪️The complex of studies is designed for a year. The station will take lunar soil, study it and transmit data to Earth.
▪️In 2027, we should launch Luna-26, in 2028 - Luna-27, and somewhere after 2030 - Luna-28. These missions will be phase one.
▪️After that, Russia, together with China, will move on to the next phase - the possibility of a manned visit to the moon and the construction of a lunar base.
#source
@Slavyangrad
Join SLG 🔺 Intelligence Briefings, Strategy and Analysis, Expert Community
https://x.com/Zlatti_71/status/1689995592959750144
From RT,
Putin orders funding increase for space-based nuclear energy
Roscosmos is investigating the possibility of building a nuclear power plant on the Moon in cooperation with China
https://on.rt.com/crpw
https://www.rt.com/russia/595796-rus...-energy-space/
Putin orders funding increase for space-based nuclear energy
Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the country’s authorities to allocate funds for projects that would allow the country to create nuclear energy facilities in space.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Kremlin said Putin had ordered the national government to provide funding for the implementation of a project called the Development of Russia’s Space Nuclear Energy Field.
The funding campaign should start as early as this year, and the overall effort would be supported by Roscosmos, the national space agency, and Rosatom, the state energy corporation.
Putin has also urged the government to pay special attention to “measures to further advance the already existing scientific and technological capabilities in the field of space nuclear energy.” The deadline for completing the task has been set for mid-June.
In March, Putin told government officials to prioritize the space sphere, especially when it comes to building a nuclear power plant, noting that Moscow has “good competencies” in this area, of which it can be truly proud.
Earlier that month, the head of Roscosmos, Yury Borisov, said Russia and China had been looking into the possibility of deploying a nuclear power unit to the Moon by 2035. He added that scientists had solved almost all of the technical challenges involved in this feat.
In December, Borisov also claimed that Russia had “a head start” in relation to the development of a nuclear-powered space transport module, describing the project as “groundbreaking.”
Moscow and Beijing have intensified space cooperation in recent years. In December 2022, the two powers prepared an agreement on building the International Lunar Research Station, a project open to other countries and expected to be launched in the early 2030s.
Meanwhile, the head of the US Space Command, General Stephen Whiting, warned earlier this week that Russia and China were rapidly developing space capabilities that could pose a significant threat to Western assets in orbit.
It came after the US accused Russia of having plans to deploy anti-satellite nuclear capabilities in space. Moscow has dismissed these allegations as “unfounded,” suggesting that they had sought to lure Russia into arms-control talks on Washington’s terms.
🇷🇺🇨🇳‼️BRICS nations, have already joined the International Scientific Lunar Station being developed by Russia and China‼️
This was announced by Dmitry Bakanov, Director General of Roscosmos, on Monday during a meeting of the heads of BRICS space agencies.
“Our joint initiative with China to create the International Scientific Lunar Station is actively progressing. Thirteen countries have already joined (Belarus, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Venezuela, South Africa, Egypt, Thailand, Serbia, Nicaragua, Senegal, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Bolivia), including BRICS members (Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa),” noted Bakanov. 👇
https://x.com/onlydjole/status/1919175127063007505
#Roscosmos confirms #Luna25 (Luna-Glob) failure scenario, adds some details:
https://russianspaceweb.com/luna-glob-flight.html#
https://x.com/RussianSpaceWeb/status...81767217762447
https://www.russianspaceweb.com/luna...ight.html#1003
Luna-Glob mission
Nearly half a century after the last Soviet probe visited the Moon, a new-generation lunar lander launched from the Russian Far East with a destination in the southern polar region of the Earth's natural satellite. Originally dubbed Luna-Glob, the new spacecraft was publicly renamed Luna-25 to symbolize its historical connection to the Luna-24 mission in 1976, which effectively concluded the Soviet robotic lunar program.
Liftoff and ascent to orbit
A Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat rocket, carrying the Luna-Glob (Luna-25) lander, lifted off from Pad 1S in Vostochny on Aug. 11, 2023, at 02:10:57.189 Moscow Time (08:10 Local time at the launch site). It was 23:10 UTC and 7:10 p.m. EDT on August 10.
After a few seconds of vertical ascent under the simultaneous thrust of the four RD-107 engines of the first stage and the single RD-108 engine of the second stage, the Soyuz steered due east so that its ground track matched an orbit with an inclination 51.7 degrees toward the Equator. It was the first mission from Vostochny heading in a strictly eastern direction, instead of flying along a north-northwest corridor as did all previous launches from the site targeting near-polar orbits.
(By entering orbit with the lowest possible orbital inclination accessible from Vostochny, the launch vehicle preserved the maximum payload available for the subsequent insertion into a trans-lunar trajectory.)
The first stage of the rocket separated 1 minute and 59 seconds into the flight (L+118.93 seconds), leaving it to the second (core) stage of the Soyuz rocket to continue accelerating the vehicle. The four boosters of the first stage were to impact the ground at Drop Zone No. 511 around 340 kilometers downrange from the launch site. Local authorities later confirmed that three of four boosters were discovered 28 kilometers from the town of Shakhtinsky, between rivers Desh and Tastakh. All 18 residents of Shakhtinsky were evacuated an hour before launch and "were returned to their homes at 10:30" a local official said.
The payload fairing protecting the lander then split into two segments and separated as well 3 minutes and 32 seconds after liftoff (L+211.95 seconds). Its remnants were projected to fall at Drop Zone No. 513 extending across the Verkhnebureinsky, Ulchsky and Vaninsky districts in the Khabarovsk Region on Russia's Pacific Coast.
In the meantime, the propulsion system of the third stage was pressurized, and just moments before the scheduled separation of the second stage, the RD-0124 engine of the third stage ignited and fired through a lattice structure connecting the boosters. The empty second stage separated 4 minutes and 48 seconds into the flight (L+287.86 seconds) and seconds later, the aft skirt of the third stage split into three segments and fell off (at L+292.46 seconds). All these fragments were to splash down in the Sea of Okhotsk at Drop Zone No. 515.
The third stage continued firing until around nine minutes into the flight (until L+560.64 seconds), followed by the separation of the Fregat upper stage with the lander over the Pacific Ocean 9 minutes and 24 seconds after liftoff (L+563.94 seconds). Just short of orbital velocity, the third stage quickly reentered the atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific.
Upper stage maneuvers
Just five seconds after parting ways with the third stage, Fregat was to fire its main propulsion system to enter an initial parking orbit around the Earth at 02:22 Moscow Time or around 11 minutes after liftoff from Vostochny. The US Space Force later reported an object associated with the Luna-Glob launch in a 267 by 281-kilometer orbit with an inclination 51.73 degrees toward the Equator.
Then, after a period of passive flight, 59 minutes 52 seconds into the flight (at 03:07:52 Moscow Time on Aug. 11, 2023), Fregat was programmed to restart its engine to enter a trans-lunar trajectory exactly an hour after reaching the initial orbit. If everything went as planned, the Luna-Glob lander would be ready for separation from the Fregat 1 hour 19 minutes 47 seconds after liftoff (03:30:44 Moscow Time on August 11) and for autonomous flight into the vicinity of the Moon (INSIDER CONTENT) along a 350 by 400,000-kilometer elliptical orbit around the Earth. Fregat's second maneuver was also designed to reduce the orbital inclination of the mission by 0.8 degree.
Another eight minutes later, at 03:38 Moscow Time, the near-empty Fregat was scheduled to perform its final maneuver to enter a safe trajectory away from its former passengers.
Minutes after the planned separation time, Roskosmos confirmed that the spacecraft had been on the trans-lunar trajectory with the lunar orbit insertion scheduled for August 16, at 12:03:30 Moscow Time, followed by a landing attempt on the surface of the Moon on Aug. 21, 2023.
After separation from Fregat, the mass of the Luna-Glob spacecraft was reported to be 1,648 kilograms.
According to the operator of the Luch data-relay satellite system, Luch-5A and Luch-5B satellites were used to transmit telemetry from the Fregat upper stage after the mission had left the communications range of the ground stations on the Russian territory. A total 115 minutes of transmission time had been provided by Luch satellites, according to the provider.
Trans-lunar flight
During the day on Aug. 11, 2023, Roskosmos said that Luna-25 had maintained stable communications with ground control and its telemetry confirmed that all systems aboard the spacecraft had functioned normally.
Industry sources also confirmed that an optional orbit correction on the second day of the mission to adjust possible inaccuracies in trans-lunar injection would indeed be required, using DKS engines (INSIDER CONTENT) and delivering six meters per second in velocity change. The lander's engine firing was scheduled for 16:00 Moscow Time on Aug. 12, 2023.
Also, the Fregat upper stage was confirmed performing a maneuver that precluded its crash into the Moon. According to the estimates based on tracking data by the US Space Force, Fregat was expected to pass between 10,000 and 6,000 kilometers from the center of the Moon on Feb. 22, 2024.
Roskosmos then announced that Luna-25 had fired its propulsion system as planned for 46 seconds on Aug. 12, 2023. At the time, the spacecraft was 230,000 kilometers from Earth.
Roskosmos also said that the first activation of the science complex (INSIDER CONTENT) aboard Luna-25 had been successfully performed on August 13 and that the service telemetry from all the instruments had shown their good operation. First measurement data (from the instruments) during a cruise to the Moon had also been received and the scientific team had began its processing, Roskosmos said. According to the Space Research Institute, IKI, the ADRON-LR instrument (INSIDER CONTENT) had been used to measure the radiation environment around the spacecraft.
Luna-25 performed its second trajectory correction maneuver on Aug. 14, 2023, at 06:40 Moscow Time (11:40 p.m. EDT on August 13). This time, the lander's propulsion system fired for 24.3 seconds, according to Roskosmos.
Luna-Glob enters lunar orbit
According to unofficial reports, the Luna-25 (Luna-Glob) spacecraft was expected to enter an initial orbit around the Moon at noon Moscow Time (5 a.m. EDT) on Aug. 16, 2023. According to an unofficial report on the Novosti Kosmonavtiki web forum, posted around 1.5 hour after the expected lunar orbit insertion maneuver and citing available telemetry, the probe's engine fired as scheduled and the spacecraft maintained correct attitude during the maneuver.
Around two hours after the event, Roskosmos confirmed that two engine firings starting 11:57 Moscow Time (4:57 a.m. EDT) had successfully put Luna-25 into orbit around the Moon by 12:03 Moscow Time (5:03 a.m. EDT). The first maneuver was performed with the KTD engine (INSIDER CONTENT) and lasted 243 seconds. The second firing used soft landing engines and lasted 76 seconds.
According to Roskosmos, all systems aboard the spacecraft were functioning normally. The spacecraft was reported to be in the 91.4 by 112.6-kilometer orbit around the Moon with an inclination 82.087 degrees toward the lunar Equator and the ascending angle of 270.53 degrees longitude (a point where the spacecraft's ground track crosses from the sourthern to the northern hemisphere).
The mass of the spacecraft after reaching lunar orbit was reported to be 1,237 kilograms.
The first lunar orbit correction was expected to be performed two days after entering the initial lunar orbit and upon exact calculation of orbital parameters.
Also, on August 17, the Space Research Institute, IKI, released first image of the lunar surface produced by Luna-Glob's STS-L TV system (INSIDER CONTENT) at 08:23 Moscow Time (1:23 a.m. EDT). According to IKI, aboard the spacecraft, instruments ADRON-LR (INSIDER CONTENT), PmL and ARIES-L (INSIDER CONTENT) conducted test observations. In particular, they registered gamma-ray and neutron flows from the lunar surface and measured parameters of space plasma, gas and dust content in the lunar exosphere.
As of August 17, Luna-Glob was scheduled to perform a correction of its lunar orbit on August 18, at 13:00 Moscow Time (6 a.m. EDT), followed by another maneuver to form the landing orbit on August 19, at 14:18 Moscow Time (7:18 a.m. EDT), a poster on the Novosti Kosmonavtiki forum said.
On August 18, Roskosmos confirmed that the 40-second orbit correction maneuver had been performed, but with the engine firing starting at 09:20 Moscow Time (2:20 a.m. EDT). The State Corporation also said that all systems aboard Luna-25 had functioned well, but no orbital parameters or any details on the timeline of the mission had been released.
Luna-Glob crashes
The rest here,
https://www.russianspaceweb.com/luna...ight.html#1003
Reply With Quote
But my personal guess is that Russia and China will soon start to mutually support each other more and more with their space programs. I suspect that China will reach the moon with a manned mission in 2-3 years all on their own (before the US, for sure), but after that there'll be increasing close cooperation between Russia and China in a whole bunch of ways.
Bookmarks