Experiment at ISS to help planning interplanetary flights, create space bases - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax) - The results of an experiment conducted at the International Space Station (ISS) will help in the planning of future interplanetary flights and the construction of inhabited bases in the Solar System, Russia's Roscosmos state-owned space corporation said on Saturday.

"The BTN-Neutron experiment is being conducted at the Russian segment of the International Space Station, and its results will be used in the planning of interplanetary flights and the creation of inhabited bases at other celestial bodies of the Solar System," Roscosmos said.

The objectives of the experiment include building a physical model of the generation of particles during solar flares, creating a model of the neutron background in surrounding the ISS under different flight conditions, and recording cosmic gamma-ray bursts, the state-owned corporation said.

Additionally, the goal of the experiment is "to develop a physical model of neutron albedo of Earth's atmosphere taking into account the effects of longitude and latitude of the measuring point, time of day and light conditions, atmospheric status," it said.

The telescope installed on the external surface of the Zvezda service module has been ceaselessly measuring components of background radiation around the station since 2007, it said.

"It enabled analyzing changes during the full solar cycle which lasts 11 years," Roscosmos said.

Russia is preparing to launch the Luna 25 interplanetary station in August 2023.

It emerged in late 2022 that Russia and China have signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation to create the International Lunar Research Station.

On October 4, 2022, Roscosmos CEO Yury Borisov said that Russia would be technologically ready to land cosmonauts on the Moon by 2030.