A pathfinding mission to land a robot probe on an unexplored region of the moon is expected to be approved by the European Space Agency (ESA) next year, according to an exclusive BBC report.
The Russian-led mission, to be carried out in collaboration with the ESA, is one of a series aimed at eventually sending astronauts back to the moon.
Luna 27, set to be launched in five years time, marks the continuation of a lunar exploration programme that was halted by the Soviet Union in the mid 1970s.
It will help pave the way for manned missions by looking for materials in lunar soil and rock that can be used to provide water, oxygen and fuel for future astronauts.
Prof Igor Mitrofanov, of the Space Research Institute, in Moscow, said: "We have to go to the moon. The 21st century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilisation, and our country has to participate."
Luna 27 is due to land on the edge of the South Pole Aitken basin, a south polar region where there are permanently dark sites that contain frozen water.
Dr James Carpenter, ESA’s lead scientist on the project, said: “The south pole of the moon is unlike anywhere we have been before. The environment is completely different, and due to the extreme cold there you could find large amounts of water-ice and other chemistry which is on the surface, and which we could access and use as rocket fuel or in life-support systems to support future human missions we think will go to these locations.”
ESA will provide an on-board laboratory similar to the instrument on the Philae lander, which touched down on the surface of Comet 67P last year. But the new lab, known as ProSPA, will be tuned to searching for sources of water, oxygen, fuel and other materials useful to human explorers.
Europe is also contributing a drill designed to penetrate to a depth of two meters to collect what might be hard, icy samples.
A new type of landing system is also being developed for Luna 27 by ESA and its industrial collaborators, said the BBC.
The “Pilot” system combines on-board navigation cameras, laser guidance technology and a computer to assess the safety of a landing site and if necessary re-target to a better location.
Europe’s participation in the mission is due to receive final approval at a ministerial meeting of ESA member states in late 2016, according to the report.
– (PA)