By 
July 9th, 2022
Credit: NPO Lavochkin
Russia’s reactivation of Moon exploration has made progress as the country’s Luna-25 probe has passed thermal vacuum tests.
Those tests put the spacecraft through extremely hot/cold soaks, reports Vasily Boyarkin, head of the Research and Testing Center of the Rocket and Space Industry near Moscow.
Russia’s Luna-25 will test lunar sampling skills.
Credit: NPO Lavochkin/IKI/Roscosmos
“The tests were carried out according to the program of complex experimental development. The device showed itself well, it withstood all thermal cycles, extremely cold and extremely hot modes,” Boyarkin reportedly said on Roscosmos TV.
The test chamber uses a complex system of mirrors, simulating the loads of solar radiation.
Factory floor integration of science instruments on Russia’s Luna-25 Moon lander.
Credit: Roscosmos
Launch period
After completion of the tests, a commission of designers carried out an inspection of Luna-25, a group that included experts from JSC NPO Lavochkin that designed and built the craft.
Luna-25 is intended to become the first domestic apparatus in modern Russia to head for the Moon. Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said that the mission to the Moon should be launched before the end of September.
Topographic map of the southern sub-polar region of the Moon showing the location of Boguslawsky crater.
Credit: Ivanov et al., 2015 via Arizona State University/LROC
The probe is targeted for a region of the south pole of the Moon, touching down near the Boguslavsky crater.
Go to this video (in Russian) detailing the Luna-25 project:
Posted in Space News
