MOSCOW, August 19 Russia should switch its attention from the South Pole of the Moon to the North Pole, and if funds for two Luna-27 stations are not allocated, send one there, said the scientific director of the Space Research Institute (IKI) RAS Lev Zeleny.
Earlier, RAS scientists suggested that Roscosmos send not one, but two automatic stations «Luna-27» under the codes «a» and «b» for reliability and guaranteed mission execution — to the South and North Poles of the Earth's natural satellite. Initially, the flight of one «Luna-27» was planned for 2028. So far, the decision to expand the mission is unknown.
«I think that the right path for us now would be to put the North Pole in the spotlight… We need to adjust our strategy, and even if there is only one Luna-27, we should make it the northern one,» Zeleny said.
According to him, by the time Luna-27 flies to the South Pole of the Moon, a «large crowd» of devices from various countries will have already gathered there. The scientist recalled that a Chinese station is planned to land to collect soil, the United States planned to send the VIPER lunar rover there, and is also thinking about a manned mission within the framework of the Artemis Accords. In addition, India has already landed on the South Pole and is planning new missions.
Thus, Zeleny noted, in the new lunar race Russia should not «run after the crowd, where it will be very difficult to catch up with those ahead,» but choose its own niche, which could be precisely the exploration of the North Pole. At the same time, he warned that others may «guess» this before that. «Therefore, here we need to somehow make this decision, stake out a claim, somehow officially secure these plans for ourselves. Because otherwise, the North Pole will soon become crowded too. Here we should not tear our hair out, but find our own way. It seems to me that focusing on the North Pole is a good solution for us now. In principle, it is no worse than the South Pole,» the scientist emphasized. 
He acknowledged that there are more interesting areas for research at the South Pole that generally meet the scientists' requirements, but there are some at the North Pole as well. The scientist emphasized that their quantity is not important here, and that «not the entire pole» is needed for study, but only one specific area.
Green recalled that several of the most interesting zones were selected for Luna-25, which crashed in August 2023, and a specific landing point was later determined in one of them.
In addition, the scientific director of IKI said that from a ballistics point of view, a flight to the North Pole is approximately the same as to the North Pole, and the new flight pattern will not cause any difficulties.
However, he expressed hope that funding will still be found for two missions. According to Zeleny, if two identical devices are sent, no additional mock-ups will be required for their ground testing, so a second Luna-27 should not make the mission much more expensive.