Russia's space agency says it is preparing two space probes for launch in the next two years to study the surfaces of both the moon and Mars.
The Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said a spacecraft scheduled to be launched in 2012 would study the Moon, RIA Novosti reported Monday.
"Roscosmos plans to send to the moon a spacecraft bearing a neutron generator developed by our institute to study the lunar surface," Yevgeny
Bogolyubov, deputy chief designer of the Automation Engineering Scientific Research Institute, said.
The same kind of generator will also be onboard a NASA spacecraft bound for Mars, he said.
"The IGN-10K impulse neutron generator is "The IGN-10K impulse neutron generator is designed to study the surface of Mars to determine the content
of water in the soil by nuclear-physical methods. The generator will be installed on board a NASA Mars lab that is slated for launch in 2011,"
Bogolyubov said.