Russia’s space agency Roscosmos and German company Airbus Defense are teaming up to launch a lunar lander to scout the moon for a future habitable base.
Airbus’s PILOT program was selected to ensure a “safe and precise landing” for the Russian-built Luna-Resource probe, according to the contract announcement. The moon mission will assess the requirements to build a permanent, habitable settlement on the moon, according to Professor Igor Mitrofanov, a leading Roscosmos scientist.
“We have to go to the Moon. The 21st Century will be the century when it will be the permanent outpost of human civilization, and our country has to participate in this process,” Mitrofanov told the BBC.
While there is no launch date set, the mission would be the European Space Agency’s (ESA) first attempt to claim the moon in partnership with Russia, and advances the ultimate goal of a habitable a moon village.
Russia has wanted to put a man on the moon since the the Soviet era, but since teaming up with the ESA in 2005, it has advanced the space program in other ways. The ESA and Russia plan to launch a manned mission by 2029. Russia’s last mission to the moon was in 1976, when the Luna 24 rover returned to earth with six ounces of mined moon dust.
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