MOSCOW. July 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Initially scheduled for 2013, the Luna-Resource Russian-Indian space mission cannot be accomplished before 2017, a source in the Russian space rocket industry told Interfax-AVN on Friday.
"The strategy for exploring the Moon and the Solar System was adjusted after the Phobos-Grunt interplanetary project failed in November 2011, as new spacecraft would need platforms used in Phobos-Grunt," he said.
Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Space Research Institute Lev Zelyony earlier said that, "a second Phobos-Grunt will be launched after we test the projected missions to Mars and Phobos on the Moon."
Under the new plan, the Luna-Globe Russian program, which is to launch two satellites to the Moon in 2015 and in 2016, will come first, and then the Luna-Resource Russian-Indian mission will be undertaken.
The Luna-Resource envisions the delivery of a heavy rover to the Moon, as well as a drilling system capable of extracting ground from a depth of 1 to 1.5 meters and a light Indian-made rover.