Russia Resumes Lunar Ambitions with Launch of Luna-25 Mission, Entering Moon Race Alongside India

Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Monday, August 7, that it is set to launch the Luna-25 lander on August 11. True enough, the lunar lander was launched on Friday propelled by a Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East's Amur Oblast.

This effort marks Russia's first lunar mission in nearly 50 years and engages it in a contemporary space race with India, which is simultaneously pursuing a lunar craft landing this month.

(Photo : KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
The Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying Russia's Meteor-M 2-1 meteorological satellite lifts off from the launch pad at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Uglegorsk, about 200 kms from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region on November 28, 2017.

Russia's Luna-25 and India's Craft to Sync Lunar Landings

The rocket liftoff at 2:10 a.m., Moscow time on Friday, as captured in live footage by Roscosmos. Weighing around 800kg (1,750 pounds), the four-legged lander is projected to enter lunar orbit within five days. Subsequently, a period of three to seven days will be dedicated to selecting the optimal landing location within the lunar south pole region.

Roscosmos official Alexander Blokhin said that the Russian spacecraft will land on the lunar south pole for the first time in history. Currently, most lunar missions land on the Moon's equatorial zone. Luna-25 is expected to reach the surface on August 23, which is the same day when India's Chandrayaan-3 will land on the lunar south pole also.

The Russian space agency announced that their module is designed for a year-long operation, involving the collection and analysis of soil samples, as well as conducting extensive scientific investigations on lunar surface material and the atmosphere. The agency aims to demonstrate Russia's ability to transport payloads to the moon and secure reliable access to the lunar surface.

The sanctions imposed on Russia due to its Ukraine incursion have created obstacles in accessing Western technology, causing a significant impact on its space program. Experts noted that the original plan for Luna-25 included a Moon rover, but this concept was discarded to enhance the craft's reliability by reducing its weight.

Vitaliy Egorov, a notable Russian space analyst, emphasized the weight disparity between foreign and domestic electronics. While research prioritizes lunar water exploration, Roscosmos aims to recover Soviet expertise and modernize lunar landing methods.

Reclaiming the Fading Space Power

Russia aims for the Luna 25 mission to reignite its historical achievements in interplanetary exploration. In the past, the Soviet Luna 24 mission successfully delivered lunar soil samples to Earth in August 1976, marking Russia's final Moon landing before a prolonged hiatus.

This accomplishment was paralleled decades later by China's Chang'e 5 mission in 2020, which similarly retrieved lunar soil and returned it to Earth, following NASA's last Apollo astronaut landing nearly four years prior.

The Soviet Union was a pioneer in Solar System exploration. Notably, Luna 9 achieved the first controlled landing on another celestial body in 1966, preceding Apollo 11's Moon landing. Despite losing the 1960s Space Race to the US, Soviet probes accomplished seven lunar landings for robot rovers and sample retrieval.

Venera 7 (1970) marked the first Venus landing, and Mars 3 (1971) reached Mars, though communication ceased shortly after. The 1988 Phobos 2 mission orbited Mars but lost contact near Phobos.

After the Soviet Union's 1991 dissolution, Russia's space program faced economic challenges. Emphasis shifted to Mir and the International Space Station collaboration with NASA. Mars attempts in 1996 and 2011 failed to exit low-Earth orbit.

While the US perceives China as a potent lunar program rival, the collaborative history between Russia and the US contrasts with their divergent lunar missions.