Russia has decided to provide the US space agency NASA with instruments for scanning both the Moon and Mars under agreements signed in Moscow on Wednesday.
Under agreements signed by NASA administrator Michael Griffin and the head of Russia's space agendy Anatoly Perminov, Russia will provide equipment for scanning for water on the Moon that could eventually help lead to its human habitation, said Gordon Chin, a NASA scientist leading the project.
Chin followed up by saying that the Russia equipment, basedon nuclear technology currently used by geologists in the oil industry, would be part of a Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter that will orbit the Moon about 50 Kilometres from its surface and is to be launched in 2008.
Similar equipment is also being provided by Russia for a NASA rover that will land on the surface of Mars known as the Mars science Laboratory. It will be launched in 2009.
Russia is spending a total of four million dollars or 2.8 million euros on the two projects.
Igor Mitrofanov, a scientist at the Russian Space Research Institute, said, "Russia sees cooperation with NASA as one of the most promising fields of cooperation and is ready in every way to contribute to the development and completion of new projects."
Such projects "demonstrate the commitment by our countries to continue to search for new projects when it is useful to cooperate," Griffin said.
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