Russia's lunar exploration program should be part of the international project

MOSCOW – Russia's lunar exploration program should be part of an international project, none of the major space powers being able to explore the only permanent natural satellite of the Earth without the Support from other states, said the director of the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Anatoly Petrukovich, told Sputnik.

Earlier in September, Dmitry Rogozin, managing director of the Russian space company Roscosmos, said the US was proposing to Russia to participate in its lunar program, but that the company was not satisfied with playing the supporting role. The official planned to meet with his NASA colleagues to discuss options for equal participation, independent exploration, or engagement of BRICS states in the mission.

"This is a huge task in terms of financial support and technical solutions and, of course, this should be a basis for significant international participation, but Russia's participation should be important. ", said Petrukovich.

Petrukovich noted that the lunar base is not a single compartment for the life and work of astronauts, but a multi-component structure, of which different parts will be formed by different countries. He added that scientists are not very interested in landing a person on the moon, as these studies should be on a large scale with the use of modern technologies.

According to Petrukovich, the scientific research program, 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 for such work.

"Now the expert community is actively discussing the question – what should a man do on the moon?

It is not yet consolidated … You can place a low frequency radio telescope on the moon. Our planet is a very powerful source of noise in space, and the Moon, or rather its dark side, is the only place where such a telescope can be placed to study the sources of electromagnetic interference in space. " said the scientist.

The lunar base can also be used to test different robotic systems or explore the possibility of using local resources for construction.

Russian astronauts can also search for primitive organic matter on the Earth's satellite, which helps to better understand how life begins on planets.