Russia will launch its first lunar landing spacecraft in 47 years on Friday in a race with India to the south pole of the moon, a potential source of water to support a future human presence there.
The launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome, 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow, will take place four weeks after India sent up its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander, due to touch down at the pole on Aug. 23.
Rough terrain makes a landing there difficult, but the south pole is a prized destination because scientists believe it may hold significant quantities of ice that could be used to extract fuel and oxygen, as well as for drinking water.
Russian space agency Roscosmos said in reply to questions from Reuters that its Luna-25 spacecraft would take five days to fly to the moon and then spend five to seven days in lunar orbit before descending on one of three possible landing sites near the pole - a timetable that implies it could match or narrowly beat its Indian rival to the moon's surface.
'SPACE FOR EVERYONE'
Roscosmos said the two missions would not get in each other's way because they have different landing areas planned.
"There is no danger that they interfere with each other or collide. There is enough space for everyone on the moon," it said.
Chandrayaan-3 is due to run experiments for two weeks, while Luna-25 will work on the moon for a year. In April, Japan's ispace failed in an attempt to make the first moon landing by a private space company.
With a mass of 1.8 tons and carying 31 kg (68 pounds) of scientific equipment, Luna-25 will use a scoop to take rock samples from a depth of up to 15 cm (6 inches) to test for the presence of frozen water that could support human life.
"The moon is the seventh continent of the Earth so we are simply 'condemned', as it were, to tame it," said Lev Zeleny, a space researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The launch, originally planned for October 2021, has been delayed for nearly two years. The European Space Agency had planned to test its Pilot-D navigation camera by attaching it to Luna-25, but broke off its ties to the project after Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Residents of a village in Russia's far east will be evacuated from their homes at 7.30 a.m. on Friday because of a "one in a million chance" that one of the rocket stages that launches Luna-25 could fall to earth there, a local official said.
Alexei Maslov told Russian news outlet Business FM that the 26 inhabitants of Shakhtinsky would be taken to a place where they could watch the launch and get a free breakfast, and return within 3-1/2 hours. He said fishermen and hunters in the region had also been warned.
© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023.
14 Comments
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EvilBuddha
There is no race here.
Modi pushed ISRO to launch this mission because he wants to claim some success before next years elections.
Many decades back ISRO used to collaborate with Glavkosmos. That ended when the US placed sanctions on both the agencies for 2 years forcing ISRO to become independent in developing the cryogenic engines for its launch vehicles when Russia backed out.
India should allow Russia to 'win' this race though considering how much India owes Russia and the respect Indians have for Russians.
Eastman
good luck.
поехали!
TokyoLiving
Excellent!!..
GO RUSSIA!!..
Sven Asai
Doesn't make much sense, because considering sizes alone you will easily see that Moon and also Mars are much too small to serve as a significant source, replacement or extension to living here on Earth. Be at least a bit more realistic please, and better try to care first about the problem catalogs we have already here and still growing unsolved.
mrtinjp
Modi pushed ISRO to launch this mission because he wants to claim some success before next years elections.
This is nothing comapred to Kennedy pushing NASA to land a man on the moon, and any and every push by all governemnts which results in advancement in space exploration is veru much needed..
mrtinjp
Modi pushed ISRO to launch this mission because he wants to claim some success before next years elections.
^This is nothing compared to Kennedy pushing NASA to land a man on the moon, any and every push by all governments which results in advancement in space exploration is very much needed..
TaiwanIsNotChina
Well I guess if India is your new peer competitor, more power to you, Russia.
EvilBuddha
This is nothing compared to Kennedy pushing NASA to land a man on the moon, any and every push by all governments which results in advancement in space exploration is very much needed
Yeah if the mission succeeds all credit will be taken by Modi and his bhakts.
If it fails though (like it did before the 2019 elections) he will be nowhere to be found.
mrtinjp
Yeah if the mission succeeds all credit will be taken by Modi and his bhakts
Still struggling with troll styled comments, pathetic..
If it fails though (like it did before the 2019 elections) he will be nowhere to be found
What failed the lander or orbiter... and he was there when the lander failed..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tepY40pRYo8
Nippori Nick
Maybe India should work on providing toilets and sanitation for its citizens instead of landing spacecraft on the mooon.
Strangerland
Why can't they do both?
Peter14
Lets hope the breakfast is a quality one and that none of the residents are sent home via Ukraine. With the behavior of Russia officials these days, anything is possible.
Lets also hope the transport to and from the "free breakfast" is also free and comfortable, not some beaten up WWII army truck that is not good enough to be used in Ukraine.
Readers may have picked up from my tone that trusting Russian officials is simply not something I am prepared to do. Given that many many Russians also feel this way, I know I am not on my own with these feelings.
EvilBuddha
Maybe India should work on providing toilets and sanitation for its citizens instead of landing spacecraft on the mooon.
Or maybe India should send all its slumdogs to Canada so it will end up becoming Canada's problem.
opheliajadefeldt
Oh dear, I hope it does not get hit by a drone.