Return-MKA-L (spacecraft)

At the end of April 2021, it became known about the order of Roscosmos for the development of the Rabod-MKA-L spacecraft, designed to study the influence of space factors on living organisms.

According to RIA Novosti, citing materials on the public procurement website, the project involves the development of a specialized apparatus for sending animals to the moon. The complex must deliver the animals to the point of Lagrange in the vicinity of the moon, and then return them to Earth. The purpose of the work is medical and biological studies of the joint influence of interplanetary flight factors on living organisms.

Roscosmos creates a spacecraft for delivering animals to the moon

Roscosmos contractors need to perform work by November 15, 2022, and by November 15, 2023 the design appearance of the spacecraft should already be determined. The timing of the launch of the device is not reported.

By April 2021, the creation of the Bion-M satellite No. 2 for sending animals into space has already begun in Russia. The purpose of this experiment is to study the effect of weightlessness and radiation on living organisms. Several dozen mice will become passengers of the ship, and their journey will last about a month. The device will fly no earlier than 2023.

The first Bion-M satellite was launched back in 2013. True, then part of the on-board equipment refused, because of which some animals died, and the scientific program could not be fully implemented.

As Vladimir Sychev, deputy director for science at the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said earlier, 20 mice will become passengers of "Return-MKA." And on the "Bion" mice, reptiles, insects, plants and microorganisms will fly into space. It was reported that the launch of "Return" is planned after 2025 to a height of up to 200 thousand kilometers, and "Bion" - 800 kilometers in 2023^[1]

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