With the launch of its Luna-25 space probe, Russia has launched a moon mission for the first time in almost 50 years. The space apparatus for exploring the moon is scheduled to land at the South Pole later this month and search for water, among other things.
As announced, the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the probe on board took off from the new Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur region at 9:10 a.m. local time (1:10 a.m. CEST), as shown in a live broadcast by the Roscosmos space agency. The probe entered the cosmos according to plan after a few minutes.
“The start was successful,” said Roskosmos boss Yuri Borissow. The travel time to the earth’s satellite at a distance of around 384,000 kilometers is four and a half days. He hopes for a soft landing on the moon on August 21, because an ideal place to touch down will first be found in orbit. Everything is going smoothly, said Borisov. This first mission had been postponed several times since 1976 due to technical problems.
Moon dust creates many dangers
“Luna-25” is part of the Russian lunar program. This envisages building a space station on the celestial body by 2040. Roscosmos is building on its Soviet “Luna” program, which began in 1959. Space probes had also brought moon rocks to earth. Actually, the new probe should have been on the way for a long time. The first planned launch date for a lunar probe was 2012, and May 2022 was last targeted.
According to Roskosmos, the 1,800-kilogram Luna-25 spacecraft will help develop soft-landing technology. In addition, the probe has the task of collecting and analyzing soil samples from the moon, it said. According to the project paper, the planned scientific investigations also include studying the surface layers and in particular the loose material on the rock in the area of the southern pole of the moon.
Last but not least, the measurements should provide information about the state of the exosphere of the celestial body at different times of the day – a lunar day and a lunar night each correspond to about 14.5 days on earth. According to Roskosmos, the temperatures there vary between minus 170 degrees and plus 120 degrees Celsius. According to Roskosmos, dynamic processes involving the interaction of cosmic particles and lunar dust take place in the polar exosphere. “The lunar dust creates many problems and dangers for the technical systems.”
Microparticles of the dust are toxic and have high chemical activity. Therefore, the investigations are important for a possible later exploration of the moon by the local people. A possible radioactive hazard is also checked. The mission is scheduled to last one year.
India is also planning a mission
After the failed attempt to land on the moon four years ago, India also wants to land the “Chandrayaan-3” probe on the surface on August 23 or 24. So far, only the USA, the Soviet Union and China have managed a soft landing. With the unmanned mission, India wants to explore the south side of the moon, which has hardly been studied, for around two weeks. India’s first attempt failed in 2019.
Above all, the Russian probe is also intended to determine the proportion of water in the soil. According to Roskosmos, the space researchers expect that the proportion of water in the loose material is negligible, because everything evaporates in sunlight and high temperatures. However, under this layer of deposited material (regolith) there is permafrost. The scientists therefore expect to find water ice there and also in permanently shaded regions.
“Luna-25” is also intended to collect soil samples – and can penetrate up to 40 centimeters deep. Wide-angle cameras photograph the surroundings and the landscapes, the recordings of which can be sent via radio channels to a research center on earth. According to Roskosmos, “Luna-25” will initially choose an ideal landing point 100 kilometers from the moon for three to seven days in order to have good lighting conditions and a connection to Earth for as long as possible.
Race of the systems to explore the universe
In Soviet times, the proud space nation made history several times. The Soviet Union was the first country in space and in 1961 also sent the first human into the cosmos. In 1959 it was the first country in the world to reach the surface of the moon. In the race between systems to explore space, however, the USA was the country that succeeded in 1969 with Apollo 11, the first manned moon mission.
Roskosmos originally worked with the European Space Agency Esa on the Russian lunar program. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than 17 months ago, Esa ended cooperation with Moscow. Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, who started the war, also wants to show with the current start of the moon mission that the country is still able to carry out its scientific projects despite the Western sanctions because of the war.
In the far eastern region of Khabarovsk, the authorities briefly evacuated a village before the launch because the first rocket stage of the Soyuz could hit there. A little later, the approximately 18 residents were able to return to their apartments. Roskosmos has already announced the next missions “Luna-26” by 2027, “Luna-27” by 2028 and “Luna-28” by 2030.
