Enthusiasts have developed a project for an apparatus that will collect evidence of all previous similar travels.
The project of a microsatellite for flying around the Moon was prepared by a group of Russian engineers and astronautics enthusiasts from private companies, Roscosmos enterprises and research institutes. The device should photograph the traces of people and lunar rovers on the natural satellite of the Earth. As conceived by the authors of the project, the microsatellite can be sent to the moon on one of the Russian rockets.
As the initiator of the project, the popularizer of cosmonautics Vitaly Egorov told MK, the start of the project was announced in 2015. More than 1.5 million rubles were collected for the satellite on the Internet using crowdfunding.
The future messenger to the Moon will weigh only 85 kg. Its size with deployed solar panels will not exceed 1.5 meters. The device should be equipped with a camera with a telescope to view details of the lunar surface up to 25 cm in size from a height of 50 kilometers. This is about twice the average capabilities of the American LRO satellite or a quarter of the Indian Chandrayaan 2.
The Russian lunar microsatellite launched towards the Moon should independently enter a low circular circumlunar orbit for shooting and work on it for at least three years.
In addition to filming lunar rovers from different countries, the microsatellite will be able to map in high detail the most interesting parts of the Moon for scientists. It is also planned to conduct experimental observations of the near-earth and circumlunar space. The goal is to detect asteroids.
The microsatellite developers plan to use, whenever possible, spacecraft components that are already being produced in Russia. For example, four engines of the main propulsion system can be ordered from the Kaliningrad OKB “Fakel”. They, if you turn them on separately, will be able to carry out the orientation of the apparatus. Data transmission to Earth can be provided through the existing ground stations of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Roscosmos.
According to the authors of the project, the total cost of development, production, ground and flight tests of the spacecraft will require about 750 million rubles, excluding the cost of launch.
The developers hope to interest the project of private sponsors and investors, the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Roskosmos. Sponsors, for example, will be able to name the apparatus to perpetuate their contributions to the program. It is planned to place advertising logos on the surface of the device and deliver a symbolic cargo to the Moon: messages from earthlings, pennants and samples of companies’ products. From lunar orbit, it is possible to broadcast musical compositions and shoot for the benefit of television companies.
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