Vitaly Egorov, popularizer of space and initiator of the project of the first "people's" lunar satellite, told RIA Novosti about the completion of the development of terms of reference for the preliminary design of this spacecraft, explained the reasons for the shifts in the date of the launch of the probe, and described plans to send it to the Moon in his blog.
“We did not specify the exact launch dates until we have even chosen the type of rocket that will be able to launch our satellite. Not to mention the launch date. We focus on the readiness of the device for launch by 2019, although it is already obvious that the dates are shifting. Now this is a completely volunteer project, and the engineers participating in it are engaged in it only in their free time from work and family, and it is, of course, very limited,”said Yegorov.
The first step to the moon
In October last year, the well-known blogger and space exploration enthusiast Vitaly Egorov announced the launch of a fundraising project for the construction of a microsatellite that would be sent to the Moon to obtain high-quality images of its surface, including the landing sites of the Apollo missions. The project attracted incredible attention from the public, and in less than three days Egorov and his team raised over a million rubles.
In mid-May, a meeting of the developers of the probe took place, at which Egorov and his associates approved a preliminary draft of how the satellite would look, what equipment would be installed on it, and how big it would turn out to be. The official terms of reference for the creation of this satellite, as planned by the developers, was to be ready by the fall of this year, however, difficulties associated with the volunteer nature of the project led to delays in its formulation.
Today, the satellite developers have presented the terms of reference, within the framework of which this probe will be developed. The terms of reference, as the engineer explains, will help his team develop a preliminary design - a detailed description of the proposed and proposed spacecraft for development.
He, according to Yegorov, is 70% ready today, and its development will be completed, as the project participants hope, before the New Year.
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The cost of the probe, according to experts preparing this document, should not exceed $ 10 million, however, according to Egorov himself, the final cost of the project will exceed this mark and may reach about $ 20 million. On the other hand, according to the engineer, potential investors are already interested in the project.
“Over the past year, we have held several meetings with representatives of Russian business and have determined that the interest in the project is, first of all, from its advertising prospects. At the same time, it became clear that one advertiser will not be able to fully ensure the implementation of the project, as it is too expensive,”said Yegorov.
According to him, "one of the major mobile operators became interested in the project," however, the team postponed all negotiations and discussion of the conditions for the participation of investors in the project until the preliminary project was completed and its professional expertise was carried out. In addition to the telecom operator, a number of companies related to the development of space technology and the IT industry expressed interest in participating in the project.
Sponsors, as noted by Yegorov, can also participate in the choice of the name of the probe, which is still unofficially called "Small spacecraft for remote sensing of the Moon." As Egorov notes, such a name is not very convenient, and therefore the developers “are trying to call it simply“Lunar microsatellite”.
Lunar odyssey
Some of the characteristics of the Russian lunar probe have not changed since May this year. In particular, it will continue to use a “conventional” Russian rocket engine powered by asymmetric dimethylhydrazine and nitric acid. This engine, according to Yegorov, the development team can purchase from FSUE NIIMash, the creators of the propulsion system for the Phobos-Grunt probe.
In addition, Russian engineers still plan to use a long enough optical telescope and camera to capture images of the lunar surface, the resolution of which, according to Egorov, will exceed the clarity of photographs that can be obtained with the LRO probe.
Each pixel in the images of the Russian "people's" satellite will correspond to only 25 centimeters on the surface of the Moon, even at a large distance from the probe from the Earth satellite, which is about twice the typical resolution of photos from LRO and will allow you to see all traces of the Apollo expeditions on the surface. In orbits closer to the Moon, the quality of photographs will be even higher.
There are also changes - thanks to the involvement of professional radio engineers from the SAIT company, it was possible to reduce the satellite mass from 160 kilograms in the May version of the project to about 100 kilograms in its current iteration. Their radio installation, according to Egorov, consumes less energy and heats up less than the designers initially assumed, which will reduce the area of solar panels and the mass of the cooling system.
As the engineer noted, both Russian and foreign components, including electronic devices and microcircuits, will be used in the creation of the probe. According to him, the sanctions should not affect developers' access to such devices.
"Electronics are supposed to be used industrial, but with flight practice in low earth orbit. This choice is primarily due to its cost, not sanctions. Although, it may be possible to use electronics for space purposes, including those of American production, in key nodes. How and where we get it is an open question, but we postpone it until the moment when it will have to be solved. So far we have an earlier stage, "- explained Egorov.
In addition, today Egorov and his associates are considering two options for sending a probe to the moon - by putting it into geostationary orbit or by putting it into the so-called lunar transfer orbit. Both will require assistance from either the state or foreign space agencies.
For example, the second option for sending a probe could be realized thanks to the launch of an experimental super-heavy rocket NASA SLS in 2018, with the help of which the Orion spacecraft and a whole set of private and student microsatellites will go to the moon.
When the "folk" probe reaches the Moon, it will enter a special near-circular orbit, which will allow it to spend a long time in the orbit of the Moon, without wasting large amounts of fuel. This orbit will be close to the polar one - the probe on it will rotate around the Moon, circling the north and south poles, but at an angle of 84-85 degrees, not 90 degrees. This will create some difficulties in obtaining images of the poles, but it will significantly extend the life of the probe. According to Yegorov, the project participants assume that the probe will work in the orbit of the Moon for at least a year, but they hope for more.
