In recent years, Roscosmos has largely concentrated on crewed missions, struggling to get a spaceprobe to its intended destination. But Luna 25 hopes to change that. The moon probe, set to launch in 2024, will mark a return to the moon for Russia, which hasn’t landed a probe on the moon since 1976.
It’s a surveyor for an even bigger goal: a crewed landing and lunar base. Tomasz Nowakowski at SpaceFlightInsider writes, "The proposed base would include a solar power station, telecommunication station, technological station, scientific station, long-range research rover, landing and launch area, and an orbiting satellite." The moon base, if it comes to fruition, would be built in the 2030s.
But without a probe landing to the moon since the Soviet days, and with N1/L3 moon landing program never getting beyond craft fabrication, it could be a tall order for the country. Roscosmos engineers are saying that, in part, one of the big challenges will be relearning to land a probe on the moon. And without a probe landing, a crewed landing seems ever more unlikely, though the country has proven canny at most other crewed spaceflight accomplishments.