Race to the Moon’s South Pole: Russia and India’s Pioneering Lunar Journey
We have been hearing for some weeks about two spacecraft, one Russian and the other Indian, that were on their way to the Moon’s South Pole, where no lander has ever successfully gone. The Russian and Indian spacecraft were engaged in a race to find hidden water ice and potentially important minerals in the lunar dust.
The first space race of the 1960s, in which the United States and the Soviet Union competed to land a person on the Moon, has inexorably affected how we interpret events that occur in space for decades.
The US won the biggest prize of all when the Apollo 11 mission sent people to the lunar surface. The Soviet Union was the first country to launch a human into space, place a satellite in Earth orbit, and land an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon.
On July 14, the Chandrayaan-3 Indian lunar lander, which was carrying a scientific payload and a tiny, six-wheeled rover for lunar surface research, launched from Earth. On August 23, it is scheduled to make contact with the lunar surface after sling-shotting numerous times around the Earth and spending several weeks orbiting the Moon.
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In contrast, the Russian lander Luna-25 only recently left our planet, blasting off shortly after 2 a.m. Moscow time on August 11 (11 p.m. GMT on August 10). It traveled to the Moon considerably more quickly and directly, and touched down there as soon as 10 days after launch, on August 21.
Chandrayaan-3
India’s third mission to the moon and second attempt to touch the south pole of the moon is called Chandrayaan-3. The Luna 25 is Russia’s first mission station since 1976, though.
According to Dr. K Sivan, a former chief of ISRO, engagement in space exploration on a global scale strengthens the human spirit of exploration and curiosity. “The lunar south pole is the intended landing site for both missions. The mission objectives won’t be much impacted by the sequence of arrival, but it does strengthen the group’s determination to break new ground, he added.
India’s satellite will make an effort to touch down within 40 days of launch, whilst Luna 25 was expected to arrive on the ground in approximately 11 days.
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Vikram will continue to follow an orbit with an Apolune (furthest point from the Moon) of 100 km and a Perilune (closest point to the Moon) of 30 km. On August 23, the ultimate landing attempt will be made from this same orbital configuration.
Luna-25
Nearly 50 years later, on August 11, Russia’s Luna 25 was launched after numerous delays and difficulties. The moon satellite lander was to be launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East. On August 21–22, the roughly 800-kilogram four-legged lander was anticipated to touch down near the lunar south pole.
Before making a scheduled landing north of the Boguslawsky crater near the lunar south pole, the Russian moon mission is required to orbit 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the Moon’s surface. On August 16, it entered the orbit of the moon.
Roscosmos reported on 20 August that initial assessments indicated that the lander “has ceased to exist following a collision with the moon’s surface.” “Attempts to locate and contact the craft on August 19 and 20 were unsuccessful.”
The space agency announced that an investigation into the crash’s reasons will begin, although it made no mention of any potential technical issues.
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To continue the heritage of the Luna program from the Soviet era and signal a return to independent lunar exploration in the face of deepening isolation from the West, Moscow had hoped that Luna-25 would do just that.
It was designed to last a year at the South Pole, where NASA and other space agencies have recently found evidence of frozen water in the craters. It was roughly the size of a small vehicle.
Conclusion
However, the missions show a resurgence of interest in exploring the Moon from space. Since hydrogen in the water could potentially be recovered to generate rocket fuel at a future Moon base, scientists have been intrigued by the recent finding of substantial pockets of water ice on our nearest celestial neighbor. In addition to this, following treatment, the water might even be drinkable.
A new era of lunar exploration, in which countries like the US, Israel, and China as well as private enterprises are pursuing the Moon with spacecraft and upcoming crewed missions, is symbolized by the so-called race between Luna-25 and Chandrayaan-3. It’s just pleasant competition for many people. However, a new chapter in human exploration is in jeopardy.
In the ensuing decades and millennia, the tiny advances taken by individual landers and crewed missions may add up to enormous strides in the conquest of the Solar System. Which goes to say that who arrives first could matter.
