Ground-Based Testing of the Lunar Manipulator Complex of the Luna-25 Project

We present a description of ground-based tests that were carried out with the lunar manipulator complex (LMC), specially designed for the Russian lunar landing mission, Luna-25 . The LMC is designed to study the mechanical properties and structure of the lunar regolith, take samples of lunar regolith from different depths and then deliver them for analysis of the elemental and isotopic composition to the laser-ionization mass spectrometer LAZMA-LR. In addition, the LMC has an infrared spectrometer and stereo cameras of the LMC working field (the optical part of the LIS-TV-RPM device), which the LMC must direct to various areas of the lunar surface. We present the results of various functional tests confirming the successful implementation of the requirements for LMC, including work with lunar soil in conditions of space vacuum and cryogenic temperatures.