Russia launches moon lander to find water on moon. After a 47-year hiatus, Russia has launched its first moon-landing spacecraft.
The mission’s goal is to land softly on the lunar south pole, which is known for potentially harboring reservoirs of valuable water ice.
This is the first lunar mission since 1976, and it is competing with India, which recently launched its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander.
The global stage is witnessing a larger competition between the United States and China, both of which are fervently pursuing advanced lunar exploration initiatives centred on the coveted lunar south pole.
Also read: Watch: First images of moon as captured by Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft
A Soyuz 2.1v rocket launched the Luna-25 spacecraft from the Vostochny cosmodrome, located 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow, at 2:11 a.m. Moscow time (1111 GMT on Thursday).
Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, expressed optimism for a highly accurate and gentle landing on the moon on August 21.
As Russia launches a moon lander to find water on the moon, the original landing date of August 23 has been pushed back to August 21.
After a successful landing, Luna-25, which is about the size of a small car, will begin a year-long mission at the moon’s south pole.
NASA and other space agencies have recently expressed interest in this region after discovering water ice traces within its shadowed craters.
The Luna-25 mission is significant in addition to scientific endeavors.
The Kremlin sees it as a response to Western sanctions imposed in response to the Ukrainian conflict.
These sanctions, aimed at Moscow’s aerospace industry, have been ineffective in undermining the Russian economy.
This lunar mission also serves as a litmus test for Russia’s growing autonomy in space exploration.
Russia’s space cooperation with the West has dwindled since its incursion into Ukraine in 2022, with the International Space Station representing a fragile point of collaboration.
According to Asif Siddiqi, a history professor at Fordham University, Russia’s lunar ambitions reflect a multifaceted pursuit that includes national power projection on a global scale.
Although Neil Armstrong made history with his lunar walk in 1969, the Soviet Union’s Luna-2 made the first lunar surface touch in 1959.
Following that, the Luna-9 made the first soft landing on the moon in 1966.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia refrained from sending interplanetary probes.
