Russia’s Luna-25 mission could land on lunar south pole before Chandrayaan-3
Russia is set to launch Luna-25, its first lunar landing mission in 47 years, and it might land on the Moon's lunar south pole ahead of Chandrayaan-3, which launched nearly a month earlier.
As the Chandrayaan-3 mission tightens its orbit around the Moon, Russia is set to launch its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years on Friday, August 11, 2023. The Luna-25 mission is scheduled to land on the Moon on August 23, the same day as Chandrayaan-3’s planned landing.
Luna-25 will launch from the Vosthochny cosmodrome in the Russian Far East less than a month after Chandrayaan-3 launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, reports Reuters. The Russian mission will try to land on the lunar south pole just like the Indian mission, aiming for a prized destination that may hold significant quantities of ice that could be used to extract oxygen and fuel in the future. If either of the mission succeeds before the other, it will be the first one to land on the lunar south pole in human history.
Roscosmos, Russia’s ISRO counterparts, said that Luna-25 will practice soft-landing, analyse soil samples and conduct long-term scientific research on the Moon’s surface. The Chandrayaan-3 mission is carrying an orbiter, a lander and a rover. The lander and rover are carrying many scientific payloads.
This is Russia’s first lunar mission since 1976 when the country was part of the Soviet Union and it will be completed without equipment from the European Space Agency (ESA), reports Euro News. ESA ended its cooperation with Roscosmos after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Luna-25 has a mass of 1.8 tons and carries 31 kilograms of scientific equipment, including some that it will use to take rock samples from up to a depth of 15 centimetres to test for the presence of water that could be used to support future crewed missions to the Moon. The mission was originally scheduled to launch in October 2021 but was marred by many delays.
The Russian mission will take a lot less time to reach the Moon than Chandrayaan-3 because the latter is taking a longer route that takes advantage of the gravities of the Earth and the Moon to use a lot less fuel
Russia will evacuate villagers from a village near the launch site due to a “one in a million chance” that one of the rocket stages that launches could fall to the Earth there, according to Reuters.
