Article Posted on : - Aug 04, 2010

A file photo.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos is planning to launch a probe on moon’s surface by 2012, a media report said Tuesday.

The spacecraft will be launched with a neutron generator in it to study the lunar surface.

"Roscosmos plans to send to the moon a spacecraft bearing a neutron generator developed by our institute to study lunar surface," RIA Novosti quoted Yevgeny Bogolyubov, deputy chief designer of the Automation Engineering Scientific Research Institute, as saying.

He also said that the generator would be used to study the surface of Mars.

The IGN-10K impulse neutron generator is designed to study the surface of Mars to determine the content of water in the soil by nuclear-physical methods, said the leading space researcher.

"The generator will be installed on board a NASA Mars lab that is slated for launch in 2011," he added.