Luna 26 is a planned lunar polar orbiter, part of the Luna-Glob program, by the Russian space agencyRoscosmos. In addition to its scientific role, the Luna 26 orbiter would also function as a telecomm relay between Earth and Russian landed assets. This mission was announced in November 2014, and its launch is planned for 2024 on a Soyuz-2 rocket.
Overview
The Luna 26 orbiter mission has been in planning since at least 2011. Originally it was envisioned to be launched to the Moon together with the lunar landerLuna 27 which will land on the South Pole–Aitken basin, an unexplored area on the far side of the Moon, but because of mass limitations, they will be launched separately. The orbiter's mass is about 2,100 kg. The objective of the orbiter is to locate and quantify natural lunar resources that can be exploited by future landed missions. After completion of its primary mission, the spacecraft's orbit will be raised to about 500 km altitude to study cosmic rays.
International collaboration
The European Space Agency will contribute to this and other Luna-Glob missions in the manner of communications, precision landing, hazard avoidance, drilling, sampling, sample analysis and ground support. As of October 2017, the USA space agencyNASA is negotiating and assessing a potential collaboration with the Luna-Glob missions Luna 25 through Luna 28. In September 2019, the China National Space Administration and Roscosmos signed two agreements on scientific cooperation and coordination between Luna 26 and the upcoming Chang'e 7 lunar polar orbiter.
Scientific payload
The scientific payload on board the orbiter is composed of fourteen instruments that will be fabricated by Russia and by some European partners. The payload will study the lunar surface and the environmentaround the Moon, including the solar wind, and high-energy cosmic rays. The orbiter may carry some NASA instruments, or instruments from private USA companies. Luna 26 will also scout sites for the planned Luna 27 landing mission.
