About Luna 25
Luna 25 is a Russian moon lander, sent by Roscosmos Space Agency (Russian Space Agency) toward the moon, as a result of rocket liftoff, which took place on August 10, 2023. Luna 25 was originally named Luna Glob, however to show the continuity with previous Lunar missions by Russia, it is now referred to Luna 25. Previous moon mission by Russian space agency, Luna 24 took place much earlier, in 1970s. Now again after around 50 years, Russia is sending another mission to the moon.
Where will Luna 25 Land
Luna 25 will land on far side of moon, near the South Pole at the site of Boguslawsky crater. Luna 25 lander have the payload which weighs around 30 Kilograms. All of this weight include different kinds of scientific equipments, which will be used on the lunar surface to perform different kinds of experiments.
Equipments aboard Luna 25 Moon Lander
Equipment aboard Luna 25 includes thermal sensors, Laser, Plasma sensors, equipment for analysis of dust and meteoroids and much more.
Full details of all the equipment aboard Luna 25 is as follows.
- ADRON-LR, active neutron and gamma-ray analysis of regolith
- ARIES-L, measurement of plasma in the exosphere
- LASMA-LR, laser mass-spectrometer
- LIS-TV-RPM, infrared spectrometry of minerals and imaging
- PmL, measurement of dust and micro-meteorites
- THERMO-L, measurement of the thermal properties of regolith
- STS-L, panoramic and local imaging
- Laser retroreflector, Moon libration and ranging experiments
According to the Wikipedia’s page for Luna 25, there were few other collaborations of Roscosmos with western nations to send some additional equipments. But those equipments will now be sent towards the Lunar surface via other means, after Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions which Russia had to bear, as result of it.
Luna 25 will beat Chandrayaan 3 to the moon
Luna 25 is expected to reach the surface of moon around 21st of August, 2023. Meanwhile, Indian Lunar lander called Chandrayaan 3 is also traveling to the moon. It took off from earth much earlier than Luna 25, on July 14, 2023. However, Chandrayaan 3 is taking much longer route in order to land on the moon. Despite taking off much later, Luna 25 will beat the Chandrayaan 3 to the moon by landing on August 21, 2023. However, Chandrayaan 3 is expected to land on the surface of moon on 23rd of August, 2023. Let us hope, both the landers are able to perform the successful soft landing the moon, so humanity can gain something from results of experiments to be done on lunar surface.