Russia's Luna 25 could beat Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon
Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, launched the Luna 25 mission from the Vostochny Cosmodrome earlier today. Notably, this marks Russia's first lunar landing attempt since 1976. Luna 25 is built to last a year. The mission could potentially outpace India's Chandrayaan-3 in reaching the lunar south pole even though Chandrayaan-3 was launched way earlier on July 14.
Luna 25 is expected to land on August 21
Luna 25 could attempt to land on the Moon as early as August 21 while Chandrayaan-3's scheduled touchdown is on August 23. Luna 25 may beat Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon because it will likely perform only two orbit-correcting maneuvres to enter the lunar transfer orbit insertion phase. In comparison, Chandrayaan-3 performed five Earth-bound maneuvers and completed Lunar Orbit Injection on August 5.
What makes the lunar south pole an interesting target
Both Russia and India are eager to explore Moon's south pole—a coveted destination due to its potential ice reserves. Extracting oxygen and fuel from lunar ice could be a game-changer for future space exploration, making this a highly competitive mission for both nations. It remains to be seen which country claims the historic achievement of landing a probe on the lunar south pole first.
