Luna25 will not affect Chandrayaan: Russian space agency

Luna25 will not affect Chandrayaan: Russian space agency

Subject : Science and Technology

Section: Space technology

Context:

Russia’s Roscosmos launched Luna 25, stating that its moon landing wouldn’t affect India’s Chandrayaan-3, launched earlier, since they’re landing in different areas on the moon and there’s enough space for both missions.

Launch and Agencies:

• Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, launched Luna-25 from Vostochny spaceport on August 11, 2023.
• Chandrayaan-3 was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on July 14, 2023.

Mission Compatibility:

• Roscosmos stated that Luna-25’s moon landing would not hinder Chandrayaan-3’s mission due to different landing areas and sufficient space on the moon for both.
• Both landers are expected to reach the moon on August 23, 2023.

Luna-25 Landing Stages:

• Luna-25’s landing on the moon involves multiple stages:
  • Launch trajectory to the moon: 1 hour and 20 minutes.
  • Flight duration from Earth to the Moon: 5 days.
  • Lunar orbit stay: 5 to 7 days, based on landing area.
• Three landing areas selected for Luna-25:
  • north of Boguslavsky crater (main),
  • south of Manzinus crater (reserve), and
  • south of Pentland-A crater (reserve).

Chandrayaan-3 Landing:

• ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 is planned to land near the lunar south pole region on August 23.
• Six active lunar orbiters were reported by ISRO:
  • NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
  • Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (Danuri)(KPLO)
  • NASA’s Capstone
  • NASA’s THEMIS B & C
    • re-purposed under ARTEMIS as ARTEMIS P1 and ARTEMIS P2
  • Chandrayan-2 orbiter (CH2O)

• Defunct (but still orbiting)
  • Japanese spacecraft Ouna (Kaguya/SELENE mission in 2009)
  • Chandrayaan-1 (India, ISRO launched in 2008)
• China’s Yutu-2 rover (released by Chang’e 4) is the only operating rover, active on the lunar far side.

Russian-Indian Interaction:

• Roscosmos confirmed no direct interaction with ISRO regarding the Luna-25 project.
• Open to Indian participation in the International Scientific Lunar Station (ILRS) and considering Russian payloads on future Indian lunar missions.

International Scientific Lunar Station (ILRS):

• ILRS is a planned lunar base initiative led by Roscosmos and the Chinese space agency.

LUNA 25

• Luna-25 is Russia’s first lunar mission since 1976 under the Soviet Union.
• Notably, Luna-25’s mission is independent of the European Space Agency (ESA) due to ESA’s cooperation suspension with Roscosmos following Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Luna-25 Specifications:

• Luna-25 weighs 1.8 tons and carries 31 kilograms of scientific equipment.
• It’s designed to extract rock samples from up to 15 centimeters deep to test for water presence, potentially useful for future crewed lunar missions.

Luna-25’s goals:

• Soft landing on the Moon.
• Analyzing soil samples.
• Conducting long-term scientific research on the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3 Lunar Mission: Overview

Chandrayaan-3 Launch and Purpose:

• Launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on July 14, 2023.
• Aims to achieve a successful “soft” landing on the Moon, following the Chandrayaan-2 landing failure in 2019.
• Chandrayaan-3 seeks to become the fourth country, after the United States, Russia, and China, to successfully achieve a lunar landing.

Chandrayaan Missions’ Objectives:

• Chandrayaan-1 (2008): Aims included creating a three-dimensional atlas of the Moon’s near and far sides, and conducting chemical and mineralogical mapping.
• Chandrayaan-2 (2019): Carried an orbiter, lander named Vikram, and rover named Pragyaan for lunar exploration; experienced partial success due to the crash of the lander and rover.

Chandrayaan-3’s Goals:

• Demonstrates India’s technical prowess by successfully landing on the Moon’s surface.
• Lander and rover payloads are consistent with Chandrayaan-2.
• Lander payloads: Study lunar quakes, thermal properties of lunar surface, changes in plasma near the surface, and a passive experiment to measure Earth-moon distance accurately.
• Rover payloads: Analyze chemical and mineral composition of lunar soil and rocks.
• One payload on the lander is from NASA.
• Landing site near the lunar south pole, mirroring Chandrayaan-2.

History and Statistics of Lunar Missions