Russia Mulls Sending Anthropomorphic Robot to the Moon - Source

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia's lunar rover, which is projected to be delivered to the Moon by the Luna-29 spacecraft, will be controlled by an anthropomorphic robot, a space industry source told Sputnik on Sunday. The launch of the Luna-29 mission is scheduled in 2028. Another source in the space industry told Sputnik on Saturday that the Luna-29 spacecraft with a 1.3-tonne lunar rover is planned to be launched from Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome using the Angara-A5B launch vehicle with the oxygen-hydrogen booster. "The lunar rover delivered by Luna-29 will be controlled by an anthropomorphic robot", the source said. According to the source, this idea had emerged quite recently. He added that in the future, such moon rovers will be controlled by cosmonauts. Russian space agency Roscosmos did not comment on this information. In 1971-1972, the United States brought astronaut-operated rovers to the Moon during manned flights of the Apollo-15, Apollo-16 and Apollo-17. In 1970-1973, the Soviet spacecraft Luna-17 and Luna-21 delivered lunar rovers to the Earth's natural satellite. Back in November, Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences’ council on space considered the concept of exploration and examination of the Moon. According to Roscomos, Russia hopes to found a fully-operational base on the Moon between 2036 and 2040. Read more: https://sputniknews.com/science/201905121074927556-russia-moon-rover-robot-mission/