Since NASA announced its long-term plans of Moon exploration, press-service of the Russian Federal Space Agency has published information on domestic Moon programme on the official website of the programme.
      
      RosCosmos’s press release says that Russia’s Federal space programme schedules works on Moon and other celestial bodies’ exploration for the period of 2006-2015 in its section “Space means for fundamental space research”.
      
      Scientists from the Institute for Space Research have won a stiff competition, and now Russian neutron detector will travel to the Moon aboard NASA’s “Moon Reconnaissance Orbiter”, There said device will search for water in Earth’s satellite’s polar regions, the Aitken crater in particular.
      
      Five space ships are scheduled for launching in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015 within the programme “Minor space ships for fundamental space research”. The “Luna-Globe” complex space explorer is scheduled for launching in 2012.
      
      The project will involve penetrators – special devices for penetrating Moon’s surface several m deep, thus opening broad perspectives for Moon exploration.
      
      Source: Space News