Russia on Friday launched a Moon mission named Luna-25 that now competes with the Indian Chandrayaan-3 to be the first spacecraft to land on Lunar South Pole.
Luna-25 is the first Russian Moon mission in nearly five decades. Russia launched its last Moon mission in 1976.
In a post on Russian social media platform VK, Russian space agency Roscosmos said the Soyuz 2.1b rocket blasted off into space on Friday. The rocket carries the Luna-25 probe which will "analyse the soil, study the upper layer of regolith, and the lunar exosphere", according to Roscosmos.
Luna-25 is aiming to be the first spacecraft ever to land on the South Pole of Moon. The scheduled landing date falls between August 21-23, as per reports. India's Chandrayaan-3, which blasted off into space on July 14, is also aiming to be the first spacecraft to land on the Lunar South Pole with expected landing on August 23-24. The timeline pits the two missions in a race to achieve the historic first.
Despite the race, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) congratulated Roscosmos and wished for the success of both the missions.
"Congratulations, Roscosmos on the successful launch of Luna-25. Wonderful to have another meeting point in our space journeys," said ISRO in a tweet.
"The Russian lunar lander is expected to reach the Moon on August 23, about the same day as an Indian craft which was launched on July 14. The Russian spacecraft will take about 5.5 days to travel to the moon's vicinity, then spend three to seven days orbiting at about 100 kilometres before heading for the surface," reported Associated Press (AP).
The New York Times, however, put the date of Russian probe's first attempt at landing on August 21.
The South Pole of the Moon is known to have ice and that's why all agencies are focussed on that unexplored part of the Moon. The human mission of the Moon, Artemis-III, which would take humans for the first time in five decades to the Moon in next few years, would also land on the South Pole. That's why Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25's findings in the Lunar South Pole would be keenly studies across the world.
While the Indian probe would only be active for 15 days upon landing, the Russian probe would be active for a year.
"If Luna-25 lands successfully, it is to operate for at least a year. Its primary landing target is north of Boguslawsky crater, located at a latitude of about 70 degrees south. Planned experiments include scooping up soil and analyzing what it is made of. The lander could dig up some water ice below the surface," reported NYT.
The launch of Luna-25 took place from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur region of Russia. It started assembly in 2017 and was named aptly to emphasise continuity over from the successful Soviet Luna program by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
