After a long break of almost five decades, Russia plans to return to the Moon with its Luna-25 lunar lander mission.
Moscow's New Lunar Program
On August 7, Russian space agency Roscosmos announced its plan to launch the lander on August 11. Powered by a Soyuz rocket, Luna-25 is set to launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, located in the Russian Far East.
With this lunar mission, Moscow aims to restart and build on the pioneering space program started by the Soviet Union. This mission has two primary scientific objectives: to investigate the composition of the polar regolith and to analyze the plasma and dust components of the lunar polar exosphere. Luna-25 is set to practice soft landing, gather and study soil samples, and perform long-term scientific research.
The Russian space agency anticipates that Luna-25 will have its lunar landing five days after launch. The spacecraft is expected to land at the lunar south pole, contrasting previous Moon landings near the lunar equator. According to Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov, the upcoming launch is a high-risk one since no one has attempted yet to do such a thing. The probability of completing such kind of mission is at 70%, Borisov added.
Luna-25 made headlines when it transported 170 grams of lunar soil in its return capsule. However, the Luna-25 mission seeks to achieve further, serving as the first mission of Russia's new lunar program. This decision comes as the country aims to strengthen space collaboration with China after breaking its ties with the West due to its conflict with Ukraine.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin sent military troops to Ukraine, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it would not cooperate with Moscow in its plan to launch its Luna-25 moon lander and its future space missions. Despite the pullout, Putin insisted on its lunar plans and replaced ESA astronomical tools with Russian-made equipment.
Features of Luna-25 Moon Lander
Luna-25, also designated the Luna-Glob-Lander, is a four-legged spacecraft intended to become Russia's first domestic apparatus headed for the moon.
The lander has a dry mass of about 800 kg and is expected to have 950 kg of propellant at launch. The base contains the landing rockets and propellant tanks, while the upper compartment carries the solar panels, onboard computers, communication equipment, and most scientific tools.
A 1.6-meter-long Lunar Robotic Arm (LRA) extends from the lander to remove and collect the surface regolith on the moon. This arm has four degrees of freedom and contains a scoop and a sample acquisition tool.
There are also eight science instruments contained in Luna-25. The surface regolith will be studied by a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer called ADRON-LR, while ARIES-L will detect the charged particles. There is also the LIS-TV-RPM for surface water measurements and LASMA-LR for regolith samples' composition.
Meanwhile, the dust in the polar exosphere will be studied by the PML detector. The STS-L will conduct the panoramic and local imaging system. Finally, the regolith thermal properties will be investigated by the THERMO-L instrument.
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