Russia launches Luna 25, first lunar lander in 47 years
Spacecraft set to study moon's polar soil and exosphere for a year
In a significant development, Russia has successfully launched Luna 25, its first lunar lander in nearly five decades. The unmanned spacecraft took to the skies from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, Russia, aboard a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket. The launch occurred at 8:10am local time on Friday, equivalent to 7:10pm ET on Thursday.
LUNA-25 Launch in HD #Luna25 #Луна25 pic.twitter.com/gVf3zI67Eo
— SRI SAIDATTA (@nssdatta) August 11, 2023
In a precautionary move, the residents of a nearby Russian village were temporarily evacuated on Friday morning due to a minuscule chance that one of Luna 25’s rocket stages could land there.
The spacecraft is set to initially enter an orbit around Earth before transitioning to a lunar orbit. The final phase of its journey will see Luna 25 descend to the moon’s surface. This feat would mark Russia’s first successful lunar landing since Luna 24 touched down on the moon on August 18, 1976.
Interestingly, Luna 25 and India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, which was launched in mid-July, are both anticipated to land at the lunar south pole on August 23. According to Reuters, it’s a race to see which country will achieve this milestone first. However, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has stated that the two missions are not expected to interfere with each other as they have different specific landing zones.
Luna 25, also known as the Luna-Glob-Lander, is tasked with studying the composition of the moon’s polar soil and the plasma and dust in the lunar exosphere, the moon’s sparse atmosphere, for a period of one year. The spacecraft is equipped with landing rockets, propellant tanks, solar panels, computers, and a robotic arm with a scoop for collecting lunar samples. It also boasts a suite of instruments for analysing these samples and the exosphere, as per NASA.
Originally, Luna 25 was a joint venture between Roscosmos and the European Space Agency (ESA), along with Luna 26, Luna 27, and the ExoMars rover. However, this partnership was dissolved in April 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading the ESA Council to halt cooperative activities with Russia.
