Russia reignited its moon exploration program today (Aug. 10), sending a lander toward Earth’s nearest neighbor.
The Luna-25 mission lifted off today at 7:10 p.m. EDT (2310 GMT) atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s far eastern Amur Region. The launch picked up where the previous Soviet Union left off in 1976, when Luna-24 successfully delivered about 6.2 ounces (170 grams) of moon samples to Earth.
But that was then. Luna-25 is the primary domestically produced moon probe in modern Russian history.
If all goes in response to plan, Luna-25 will spend the subsequent five days journeying to the moon, then circle the natural satellite for an additional five to seven days. The spacecraft will then set down within the moon’s south polar region, near Boguslawsky Crater. (Two backup landing spots are also in play: southwest of Manzini Crater and south of Pentland A Crater.)
Once down protected and sound, Luna-25 will work on the lunar surface for no less than one Earth 12 months.
Related: Not only Artemis: China and Russia plan to place boots on the moon, too
A protracted road to the launch pad
It took longer than expected for Luna-25 to get off the bottom; its liftoff wa犀利士
s delayed for nearly two years.
One major countdown-delaying issue was sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. The European Space Agency (ESA) had been set to offer the Pilot-D navigation camera, built specifically to assist Luna-25 make a precision landing on the moon. As a result of the invasion, nevertheless, ESA canceled the camera cooperation, together with a variety of other collaborative space projects.
But getting Luna-25 on its strategy to the moon remained a priority, one highlighted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In an April 2022 visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome, he said the sanctions placed on Russia by the U.S., the European Union and others wouldn’t deter the nation from carrying out space exploration.
“Despite all of the difficulties and attempts to interfere from the skin, we’re definitely going to implement all our plans with consistency and persistence,” Putin said.
Tricky terrain
Luna-25’s primary objectives are to check technology for future soft landings on the moon, analyze lunar dirt and rocks and conduct other scientific research. If its landing is successful, the craft will study the upper layer of the lunar regolith, appraise the ultra-thin lunar atmosphere and seek for signs of water ice within the south pole region.
When it comes to landing, the 1.6-ton Luna-25 is fundamentally different from its predecessors. Past Soviet lunar landers touched down within the moon’s equatorial zone. This latest lander will set down inside the circumpolar region of the moon, in a site that involves tricky terrain.
Designed, built and tested by Russian aerospace company NPO Lavochkin, Luna-25 consists of two primary parts. One is a landing platform outfitted with a propulsion system and landing gear, including a Doppler velocity and range meter. The opposite is an unpressurized instrument container loaded with scientific equipment, radiators, electronics, solar panels, a radioisotope heat and power source, antennas and tv cameras.
‘Sit where nobody has sat’
Luna-25 carries the next instruments, which together weigh about 66 kilos (30 kilograms):
- Service television system (STS-L)
- Lunar manipulator complex (LMK) with a soil intake device
- Neutron and gamma detector (ADRON-LR) to remotely search for water ice
- Infrared spectrometer (LIS-TV-RPM)
- Laser mass spectrometer (LAZMA-LR)
- Ion energy-mass analyzer (ARIES-L)
- Dust Monitor (PmL)
- Scientific information control unit (BUNI)
Luna-25’s “most vital task, to place it simply, is to sit down where nobody has sat,” Maxim Litvak, a chief scientist for the mission from Russia’s Space Research Institute (known by the acronym IKI), said in a posting on the IKI website.
“Now everyone seems to be aiming for the polar regions; this area is intriguing to everyone within the scientific community,” Litvak said. “There are signs of ice within the soil of the Luna-25 landing area; this could be seen from data from orbit. Within the equatorial regions where we landed earlier, this isn’t the case.”
Indeed, Luna-25 is slated to the touch down around the identical time, and in the identical general area, as India’s Chandrayaan 3 probe, which launched on July 14 and arrived in lunar orbit on Aug. 6. And NASA plans to determine one or bases near the moon’s south pole by the top of the 2020s, via its Artemis program.
Future Russian moon missions
Luna-25’s lunar manipulator complex (LMK) is able to excavating lunar regolith and delivering it on to a laser mass spectrometer (LAZMA-LR). As well as, an infrared spectrometer installed on this hardware can inspect the fabric, assessing the prospect of finding water ice.
Litvak emphasized that the Russian lunar program is already planning out future missions based on the event of Luna-25’s design. Luna-26, which is able to orbit the moon, will likely be followed by two landing efforts: Luna-27 will deliver a drilling rig to the moon, and Luna-28 is designed to deliver regolith from the moon’s polar regions to Earth.
These lunar craft are a prelude to Russian plans to begin deploying a full-fledged scientific station on the moon, in collaboration with China.
“I hope that we will likely be the primary to land within the circumpolar region and conduct the primary direct experiments to check and seek for water. This will likely be the premise from which everyone will then start,” Russian researcher Lev Zelyony, scientific director of the primary stage of the Russian lunar program, said in an IKI posting. “So the successful flight of Luna-25 will mean quite a bit, and is significant not just for pure fundamental science.”