The Russian Lunar Exploration Project

Details The Russian Lunar Exploration Project The Russian Lunar Exploration Project

Sep 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999sosyr..33..327g&link_type=abstract

Solar System Research, vol. 33, p. 327 (1999)

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Scientific paper

The Russian Lunar Exploration Project has the twin aims of establishing the internal structure of the Moon and determining the composition of the volatiles in a lunar polar region. The determination of the internal structure of the Moon, including an answer to the question of whether it has an iron core and of the size of such a core, is of crucial importance in choosing between the alternative mechanisms proposed to account for the formation of the Moon and the Earth. An analysis of volatiles in situ will pave the way not only to understanding the history of the Moon, but also the origin of the carbon-water material of the Earth. The research undertaken with the goal of solving these problems involved planning experiments, determining the composition of the instrument package and the contours of the spacecraft, and choosing the scenario of the space mis- sion. Two seismic experiments are planned to achieve the main objective: the determination of the internal structure of the Moon. The first involves the use of two landers, spaced approximately 300 km apart and carrying wideband seismometers; the second involves the use of a small-aperture seismic array formed by positioning 10 seismometers on an area about 10 km in diameter, the seismometers having been delivered to the lunar surface by high-speed penetrators. It is proposed to land a polar station on the floor of a crater in the region of the south pole. The instrumentation complex of the polar station consists of a gamma-ray spectrometer, a neutron spectrometer, a mass spectrometer, a television camera, and several other instruments. The spacecraft is designed for use with launch vehicles of the Molniya or the Soyuz-2-Fregat type.

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