Russia launched Luna 25, the country’s first lunar mission in 47 years, on Friday. According to the Russian news source TASS, Luna-25 blasted out from the Vostochny launch pad in Russia’s Far East.
Luna 25 took off on Friday at 8:10 a.m. (local time) aboard a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket, according to CNN. According to TASS, the Fregat booster separated from the rocket’s third stage around 564 seconds after launch. About an hour after launch, the Luna-25 spacecraft will separate from the rocket. The journey to the moon might take up to 5.5 days.
Before reaching the Boguslawsky crater area, the spacecraft will spend three to seven days about 100 kilometers above the lunar surface. Meanwhile, the craters Manzinus and Pentland-A have been named as alternative landing sites
The mission’s major purpose will be to improve soft landing technology. According to TASS, the mission could be the first spacecraft to reach the South Pole of Earth’s natural satellite.
The spacecraft will search for natural resources like as water and investigate the effects of space rays and electromagnetic radiation on the lunar surface.
For one year, Luna 25, also known as the Luna-Glob-Lander, will research the composition of the moon’s polar soil as well as the plasma and particles contained in the very thin lunar exosphere, or the moon’s meager atmosphere.
The lander’s cameras will capture timelapse footage of the landing as well as an HDR wide-angle image of the moonscape. According to TASS, Luna-25’s cameras will turn on and off at predetermined intervals and in response to Earth signals.
According to NASA, “the lander has a four-legged base containing the landing rockets and propellant tanks, an upper compartment holds the solar panels, communication equipment, on-board computers, and most of the science apparatus.”
The lander features a 1.6-meter-long Lunar Robotic Arm (LRA, or Lunar Manipulator Complex) can remove and gather surface regolith to depths of 20 to 30 cm, according to a NASA statement. The LRA comes with a scoop (175 cubic cm volume) and a sample collecting tool, a 4.7 cm long tube with a 1.25 cm internal diameter.
