Future American, Russian, Chinese and Indian robotic spacecraft to the Moon will have enhanced scientific interest with the discovery of water-ice molecules spread about lunar surface. Over the next four years, missions are being planned. The next two lunar probes set to be sent to the Moon are the United States Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) and Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) set for launch by NASA in 2011 and 2012.
GRAIL is actually twin lunar satellites designed to determine, via X-ray observation, the moon from crust to core to reveal the moon's subsurface structures and, indirectly, its thermal history. The mission is expected to help lunar scientists create a lunar gravity map after launch in 2011.
LADEE will determine the global density, composition, and time variability of the fragile lunar atmosphere before it is perturbed by further human activity; determine if the Apollo astronaut sightings of diffuse emission at 10s of km above the surface were Na glow or dust, and; document the dust impactor environment (size-frequency) to help guide design engineering for the outpost and also future robotic missions following the mid-2012 launch from Wallops Island, VA.
China plans to launch their second lunar probe, the Chang'e-2, prior to the end of 2010 to advance the nation's lunar space program's core technologies such as orbital adjustments and soft landings. The mission is designed to advance the Chang'e 3 mission tol land on the moon with an unmanned rover in 2013.
Russia is now planning the 2012 launch of the Luna-Glob-1 mission including an orbiter with four Japanese-made ground penetrating sensors. The orbital spacecraft will also contain astrophysics experiments, dust monitors, plasma sensors, including the LORD astronomy payload, designed to study ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.
India's Chandrayaan-2 will be launched in late 2013 or early 2014 with an orbiter and a Russian-made lunar surface landing craft called Luna-Glob-2. The six wheeled, solar powered rover is planned to land at the South Pole. The rover will chemically sample the soil and relay the data to Earth-based scientists.
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