After a span of 47 years, Russia has successfully launched its lunar mission, Luna-25. The mission is targeted at the moon’s south pole, with the primary goal of searching for water on its surface. This marks Russia’s first lunar vehicle launch since 1976, and the spacecraft took off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, situated about 5,550 km to the east of Moscow.https://twitter.com/Megatron_ron/status/1689608455043084288?s=20
According to Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, Luna-25 is now en route to the moon, with an anticipated journey of 5 days. Following this, it will spend around 7-10 days in lunar orbit before potentially landing on the moon’s surface on either August 21 or 22. Coincidentally, India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 and is scheduled to land on the moon around August 23. This period of renewed lunar exploration is capturing the attention of space enthusiasts worldwide.https://twitter.com/TitaniumSV5/status/1688811662055497728?s=20
Russia launched its Moon mission after 47 years.
Luna-25 will take samples of lunar soil and analyze it
According to CNN, Luna-25 has a lander. The four-legged lander weighs 800 kg. Luna-25 will practice soft landing. It will work to collect and analyze lunar soil samples. Also will do long lasting research.
The vehicle was launched with the help of Soyuz 2.1B rocket. This rocket is about 46.3 meters long. Its diameter is 10.3 meters. Its weight is 313 tonnes. This four-stage rocket has left the Luna-25 lander in a circular orbit outside the Earth.
For the first time there will be a landing on the Moon’s South Pole
Russia had earlier landed Mission Luna-24 on the moon in 1976. All the moon missions that have happened so far have reached the moon’s equator, this will be the first time that a mission will land on the south pole of the moon. NASA said in 2018 that there is water on the south pole of the moon.
The purpose of the mission is to develop soft-landing technology
Roscosmos told that the purpose of this mission is to develop soft-landing technology. Along with doing research on the internal structure of the moon and searching for other important things including water. The lander is expected to operate on the lunar surface for a year.
Why is this mission special?
Luna-24, launched in 1976, returned safely to Earth with about 170 grams of lunar dust. Astronomer Vladimir Sardin estimated that the Luna-25 mission had a 50 percent chance of success.
“The last one happened in 1976, so there’s a lot going on,” Asif Siddiqui, a history professor at Fordham University, told Reuters. Russia’s aspirations towards the Moon are a mix of many different things. I think first and foremost, it is an expression of national power on the global stage.’
American astronaut Neil Armstrong gained fame as the first man to walk on the moon in 1969, but it was the Soviet Union’s Luna-2 mission that was the first spacecraft to reach the lunar surface in 1959 and Luna in 1966, he said. -9 was the mission.
The village was evacuated
Roscosmos has reported that the Shakhtinsky village in the Khabarovsk region in the south-east of Russia was evacuated for the launch of the Luna-25 mission. The step to evacuate the village was taken as a precaution. The village falls in the area where the rocket booster is expected to fall after separation.
