Luna - 25
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos launched the Luna-25.
Luna 25 is a lunar lander mission by Roscosmos.
It will land near the lunar south pole at the Boguslavsky crater.
Initially called Luna-Glob lander, it was renamed to Luna 25 to emphasize the continuity of the Soviet Luna programme from the 1970s, though it is still part of what was at one point conceptualized as the Luna-Glob lunar exploration program.
Luna-25, the country’s first lunar lander in 47 years.
The Luna-25 mission lifted off on August 10, 2023, atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket.
Luna-25 was launched from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in the country’s far east region.
In its current form, Luna 25 is a lander only, with a primary mission of proving out the landing technology.
The mission will carry 30 kg (66 lb) of scientific instruments, including a robotic arm for soil samples and possible drilling hardware.
Luna - 25 and Chandrayaan
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, has said that Luna -25 landing on the moon would not impede India’s Chandrayaan-3.
The two missions had different landing areas.
Luna -25 lunar lander is expected to reach the moon on August 23, the same day on which Chandrayaan-3 is also expected to land on the lunar surface.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to have the Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover touch down near the lunar south pole region at 5.47 p.m. on August 23.
India and Russia are both aiming to be the first ever country to land on the moon’s south pole.
There is no interaction with ISRO on the Luna-25 project.
At the same time, the Russian side is open to cooperation on the participation of the Indian side in implementing the project of the International Scientific Lunar Station (ILRS).
The ILRS is a planned lunar base currently persuaded by Roscosmos and the Chinese space agency.
Russia ready to consider the possibility of placing a Russian payload on future Indian missions.
Active lunar orbiters
According to ISRO, there were six active lunar orbiters as of July 2023.
Currently, the only operating rover is China’s Yutu-2 rover released by Chang’e 4, which operates on the far side.
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