There is an unprecedented race going on in space right now. India and Russia are competing to be the first to reach the South Pole of the Moon. Both countries sent an unmanned mission to the Earth’s satellite, which, according to their plans, was supposed to arrive in the coming days. Whoever gets it first he will do it just a few days ahead of his competitor.
For now, Russia seems to have the upper hand in this head-to-head race. Mission moon-25 Roscosmos, the Russian state space company, was successfully launched into lunar orbit on Tuesday. “All Luna-25 systems are working normally, communication with it is stable,” the Russian said in a Telegram message. This is the country’s first mission to the lunar surface since 1976.
The ship is now orbiting the moon. This will be about five days. It will then change course for one final maneuver: a smooth and difficult landing at the lunar south pole. Approximate date? Next Monday, August 21st.
When the Russian mission launched on August 10, the Indian Space Research Agency sent them warm greetings. Congratulations to Roscosmos on the successful launch of Luna-25. Great to have another meeting point on our space travels,” he tweeted, like any good opponent.
India is called Chandrayan-3 and it also went into lunar orbit. This happened on August 5, 22 days after launch. The team celebrated by sharing their first satellite imagery. On Thursday, the space probe lander successfully separated from the propulsion module. In the next few hours, it will start its engines to lower its orbital altitude and prepare for its descent. planned August 23.
Russia’s mission does not affect India
But nothing is certain. The moon’s south pole is dark and cold, making landing maneuvers difficult. In addition, no other space agency has done this before. Even the Chinese or NASA. Any unforeseen event can delay any of the missions or even cause them to fail.
This is India’s second attempt to land on the moon. In 2019, the Chandrayaan-2 mission flew to an area near the South Pole. However, a few minutes before landing, he lost contact with the Earth. NASA later confirmed with photographs that the Indian lander had crashed near its planned landing site.
Even though the two missions overlap in time, they won’t bother you because they have different and remote landing zones. The Russians are aiming for the Bogoslavsky crater, while the Indians have chosen the Manzinus crater, about 120 kilometers away. “There is no danger that they will interfere with each other or collide. There’s enough room on the moon for everyone.” This was announced by the representative of Roscosmos. Reuters.
What is at the south pole of the moon?
Both missions point to the south pole of the moon for a reason. Ice was discovered in the area in the 1990s. That is, water is possible. And now it is believed that there may be many of them. Scientists from the National Academy of Sciences of China have calculated that the entire moon could be about 270 billion tons of water in the form of ice.
That’s why everyone wants to go there. And even if the first unmanned mission is Russian or Indian, the two space giants are already gearing up to be the first to send humans to the Moon’s South Pole. Yes, USA and China.
NASA, the first and so far the only one to send humans to the moon, hopes to repeat the feat in 2025. with his mission Artemis. Last July, the Chinese announced they were planning to send their first astronauts. sometime in 2030. Both projects provide for the preliminary dispatch of spacecraft to prepare the earth for manned flights.
Lunar water can be a source of hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used, for example, for make rocket fuel. Space agencies also keep an eye on other minerals: iron, silicon and magnesium. The lunar mining industry is about to start.
Source: Hiper Textual
