Space.com

Russia to Launch New Moon Probe in 2015

News
By published
Russian Luna Glob Spacecraft
An artist's illustration of Russia's Luna-Glob spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA)

Russia will launch an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2015, the first step in a new push toward establishing a fully robotic lunar station, according to press reports.

The new moon orbiter, called Luna-Glob, should be ready for launch in two years and is expected to be the first of four missions to establish a lunar base, Russia’s RIA Novosti reported today (Jan. 15).

Russia's goal to set up this lunar station dates back to the late 1990's, and was originally marked for completion last year. Due to a few budgetary setbacks, however, the Russian Federal Space Program had to postpone the launch, but it appears to be back on track.

The space agency is also planning on developing better strategies for manned moon exploration. The Federal Space Program recently received 10 million rubles (US $330,000) to create a new rocket that could launch their cosmonauts to the moon.

That project is set for completion at the end of May of this year.

This story was provided by SPACE.com, a sister site to Live Science. You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Miriam Kramer on Twitter @mirikramer. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Miriam Kramer
Miriam Kramer
Miriam Kramer joined Space.com as a staff writer in December 2012. Since then, she has floated in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight, felt the pull of 4-Gs in a trainer aircraft and watched rockets soar into space from Florida and Virginia. She also serves as Space.com's lead space entertainment reporter, and enjoys all aspects of space news, astronomy and commercial spaceflight.  Miriam has also presented space stories during live interviews with Fox News and other TV and radio outlets. She originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee where she and her family would take trips to dark spots on the outskirts of town to watch meteor showers every year. She loves to travel and one day hopes to see the northern lights in person.