Selecting a Landing Site for the Luna 27 Spacecraft

At present, the task of selecting landing sites for the Luna 27 spacecraft is provided with alarge amount of actual data, often with a higher spatial resolution compared to the data used to select of the Luna 25 landing sites. In addition, more data about the lunar surface with a spatial resolution comparable to the size of a spacecraft can be further obtained using the Luna 26 orbiter. Preliminary estimates of the lunar surface conditions in the south polar region, south of 80° S, for the landing of Luna 27 spacecraft have revealed the need to seriously improve the landing accuracy in comparison with the Luna 25 landing ellipse. The size of such landing ellipse south of 80° S makes a safe landing almost impossible since the surface near the Moon’s south pole does not have a single smooth and illuminated area of that size. Increasing the landing accuracy up to 5 km opens up the possibility of choosing a landing site among six candidates. A further increase in landing accuracy up to 3 km can provide a wide choice among 15 candidate sites, each allowing both a safe landing and the accomplishment of the Luna 27 scientific mission. Finally, with a landing accuracy of about 500 m, one can outline vast areas in the vicinity of the south pole with numerous sites offering favorable conditions both for a safe landing and for carrying out an extensive scientific program.