MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - New samples of lunar soil will be delivered to Earth in 2023-2025, an official from a Russian aerospace company said Friday.
"The program currently has four missions: the first demonstration landing in 2025, an orbiter, which is needed to support all landing missions, then, the full landing mission Luna-27, and, around 2023-2025, there will be a project to deliver substance samples to Earth from areas near the [Lunar] south pole," Maksim Martynov, Deputy Designer General of Russia's NPO Lavochkin told reporters.
According to Martynov, the soil is to be delivered in its initial state, without experiencing any temperature changes and while preserving all its particles.