Recently Russian space agency Roscosmos launched its new Moon mission after 47 years. The name of this mission is Luna 25. Luna 25 mission was launched on 10 August 2023, 23:10 UTC with the help of a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur Region. It will land near the South Pole of Moon at the crater Boguslawsky. Initially, the name of the Luna 25 mission was Luna-Glob Lander but after it was renamed to Luna 25.
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| Russia's Luna-25 moon lander being prepped for launch. (Image credit: NPO Lavochkina) |
Mission Of Luna 25
If all goes according to the plan of Roscosmos. Luna-25 will spend the next five days journeying to the moon, then circle the natural satellite for another five to seven days. The spacecraft will then set down in the moon's south polar region, near Boguslawsky Crater. If something went wrong while landing Luna 25 there are also two backup landing spots southwest of Manzini Crater and south of Pentland A Crater. After landing Luna 25 will work for 1 year. The exact date of landing of Luna 25 is 21 August 2023 which is two days before the landing of Chandrayaan-3. The budget of Luna 25 is 1650 crore.
Main Objectives of Luna 25
- To study the composition of the polar regolith.
- To study the plasma and dust components of the lunar polar exosphere.
Instruments in Luna 25 ( Science Payload )
- ADRON-LR, active neutron and gamma-ray analysis of regolith
- ARIES-L, measurement of plasma in the exosphere
- LIS-TV-RPM, infrared spectrometry of minerals and imaging
- LASMA-LR, laser mass-spectrometer
- (STS-L) Service television system
- (PmL) Dust Monitor
- THERMO-L, measurement of the thermal properties of regolith
- Laser retroreflector, Moon libration and ranging experiments
- BUNI, power and science data support
Luna 25 vs Chandrayaan-3
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| Moon's south pole in Boguslavsky Crater (Image credit: Roscosmos) |