Russia’s lunar spacecraft has entered the moon’s orbit, the country’s space agency Roskosmos said on Wednesday. Luna-25 will circle the moon for around 5 days and then change course for a soft landing on the lunar south pole planned for August 21, two days before India’s Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to soft land on the south pole.
Chandrayaan-3, which was launched on July 14 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, entered the moon’s orbit earlier this month and is currently in an orbit of 153 km x 163 km.
Russia, on the other hand, launched its Luna 25 on August 11 but is taking a shorter route to make a touchdown on the moon’s south pole, which has not been explored by any space agency. Russia’s Luna 25 is the country’s first moon mission in 47 years.
The Luna-25 will aim to operate for a year on the south pole, where scientists in recent years have detected traces of frozen water in the craters. No Russian spacecraft has entered lunar orbit since Luna-24, the Soviet Union’s 1976 moon mission, according to Anatoly Zak who tracks Russian space programmes.
“Entering lunar orbit is absolutely critical for the success of this project,” Zak told Reuters. “This is a first for the post-Soviet period.” Zak said some are calling this the second lunar race “so it is very important for Russia to resume this programme”. He said Luna-25 is not just one mission – “it is part of a much broader Russian strategy that stretches 10 years into the future”.
Earlier today, India’s space agency successfully performed Chandrayaan-3’s fifth and final lunar-bound orbit manoeuvre, which brings the spacecraft even closer to the surface of the moon. With the latest manoeuvre, the spacecraft has completed all of its moon-bound manoeuvres, and it will now prepare for the separation of the lander module — comprising the lander and rover — from the propulsion module.
“Today’s successful firing, needed for a short duration, has put Chandrayaan-3 into an orbit of 153 km x 163 km, as intended. With this, the lunar-bound manoeuvres are completed. It’s time for preparations as the Propulsion Module and the Lander Module gear up for their separate journeys,” the space agency said in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Separation of the lander module from the propulsion module is planned for Thursday, August 17. After separation, the lander is expected to undergo a “deboost” (the process of slowing down) to place it in an orbit where the Perilune (closest point to the moon) is 30 kilometres and Apolune (farthest point from the moon) is 100 km. From this orbit, the soft landing on the south-polar region of the moon will be attempted on August 23.
(With inputs from agencies)
