Sweden withdraws from Russian lunar mission and joins Chinese one
The Swedish XSAN device for measurement of neutrals and ions, which was developed for the Russian Luna-25 program, will instead travel to the Earth’s satellite on the Chinese station Chang'e-4, RIA Novosti reports, referencing a letter from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF).
“In 2017, our Chinese colleagues suggested sending the manufactured XSAN flight module on the Chinese Chang'e-4 rover in 2018, an opportunity that we could not miss,” letter reads.
On May 11, IRF reported that Russian scientists had suggested postponing the launch of Luna-25 from 2019 to 2021, following a decision by the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to the IRF, the delay of the lunar mission can adversely affect the performance of the device, because at the time of launch the service life of some components may expire.
The letter states that the Swedish institute does not intend to end cooperation with Roscosmos and is ready for joint analysis of the data received by XSAN.
Russia’s moon study program plans to launch three space probes until 2025. The space probe Luna-25 is planned to be launched in 2019 to test the landing technology in the area of the South Pole. Two other Russian probes, Luna-26 and Luna-27, are scheduled to fly to the Moon in 2021 and 2022 respectively.