UPDATE - Russia's Lunar Exploration Program Should Be Part Of Int'l Project - Research Institute

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th September, 2018) Russia's lunar exploration program should be a part of an international project, as none of major space powers is capable to explore Earth's only permanent natural satellite without support of other states, the director of the Space Research Institute of the Russian academy of Sciences, Anatoly Petrukovich, told Sputnik.

Earlier in September, Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of Russian Roscosmos state space corporation, said that the United States was offering Russia to participate in its lunar program, but the corporation was not satisfied with playing the second fiddle in the mission. The official was planning to meet his NASA colleagues to discuss the options of equal participation, independent exploration or engaging BRICS states in the mission.

"This is a large-scale task in terms of financial support and technical solutions. And this, of course, should be a base with great international participation, but Russia's participation should be significant," Petrukovich said.

Petrukovich noted that the lunar base is not a single compartment for the life and work of astronauts, but a multi-component structure, different parts of which will be formed by different countries.

He added that scientists are not very mush interested in landing one person on the Moon, as such studies should be large-scale with the use of modern technologies.

According to Petrukovich, the program of scientific research, which could be conducted by Russian astronauts on the Moon, has not yet been determined, and the scientific community is currently working on possible directions of such works.

"Now the expert community is actively discussing the question � what should a man do on the Moon. There is no consolidated opinion yet ... You can place a low-frequency radio telescope on the moon. Our planet is a very powerful source of space noise, and the Moon, or rather it's dark side, is the only place where such a telescope can be placed to study space sources of electromagnetic interference," the scientist said.

The lunar base can also be used for testing different robotic systems or exploring a possibility of using local resources for construction.

Russian astronauts can also search for a primitive organics on Earth's satellite, which can shed light on how the life begins on planets.