With the launch of Chandrayaan-3 on July 14, 2023, India is expecting to make history by becoming the first country to land a craft on the South Pole of the Moon. However, recent developments may thwack the country’s dreams of creating history. Russia, a close ally of India, has launched its own lunar missions after 47 years.
The Roscosmos, Russia’s Space Agency, launched the Luna-25 lander on August 11. With the launch, it was expected that Russia’s Luna-25 would beat India’s Chandrayaan-3 to reach the South Pole first, even though the latter had a headstart of four weeks.
Chandrayaan-3 Landing Date
Chandrayaan-3, which is carrying a lander and a rover has reached closer to the Moon’s surface and its orbit has been decreased to 174 km x 1437 km. The craft is scheduled to make landfall on the South Pole of the Moon on August 23. After landing on the surface in August, the rover will then deploy and explore the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
— ISRO (@isro) August 9, 2023
Even closer to the moon’s surface.
Chandrayaan-3's orbit is reduced to 174 km x 1437 km following a manuevre performed today.
The next operation is scheduled for August 14, 2023, between 11:30 and 12:30 Hrs. IST pic.twitter.com/Nx7IXApU44
Luna-25 Landing Date
Luna 25, also known as the Luna-Glob-Lander, is a Russian lunar lander mission that was launched on August 11, 2023. It was Russia's first lunar mission in 47 years, the previous one took place in 1976. Luna-25 launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, which is 5,550 kilometres east of Moscow. The spacecraft was also targeted to land on the South Pole of the Moon.
However, two days before it was supposed to land, Luna-25 crashed into the surface of the Moon. ROSCOSMOS said that the craft's engines failed to shut down in a proper way, leading to the inevitable crash. The head of Russian space agency Borisov blamed Vladimir Putin-led government's decades-long inactivity in space exploration as the reason behind the crash.
The launch of Russia's first-ever lunar mission in over a half-century was supposed to show that a war-laden Russia can still compete with the superpowers. It came off as a hue shock when the craft failed.
The head of Russia's space agency says the Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after its engines failed to shut down correctly. https://t.co/QBEdCpGehf
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 21, 2023
According to the Roscosmos scientists, the spacecraft would have takes around 5 days to fly to the Moon and then spent the next 5 to 7 days in its orbit, before landing on the surface. In short, after the launch, Luna-25 would have taken approximately 12 days to land on the Moon, which will coincide with Chandrayaan-3’s landing date, which is August 23.
Chandrayaan-3 vs Luna-25: An Overview
According to Roscosmos, even after the crash Luna-25 will not get in the way of Chandrayaan-3 as the two have different landing spots on the South Pole.
Luna-25, weighing 1.8 tonnes and carrying 31 kg (68 pounds) of scientific equipment, was supposed to use a scoop to collect rock samples from depths of up to 15 cm (6 inches) to test for the presence of frozen water capable of supporting human life.
On the other hand, Chandryaan-3 will run experiments for two weeks. Carrying four pieces of scientific equipment, Chandryaan-3 aims to study moonquakes, heatwaves, the plasma environment, and the gravitational relationship between the Moon and the Earth.
It is not the first time that India is attempting to make landfall on the Moon. In 2008, India launched the Chandryaan-1, the nation’s first lunar mission, whose findings shocked the scientific community. Though the spacecraft did not touch down on the lunar surface, it detected the presence of water molecules. A few years later, the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) launched the Chandrayaan-2, which successfully reached the Moon’s orbit, however, due to a technical glitch it lost all communications just hours before landing and ultimately crashed.
Chandrayaan-3 is expected to make history by becoming the first Indian spacecraft to land on the Moon. ISRO’s Chairman has also stated that they have designed the spacecraft to be failure-proof, and even in extreme design failures, it will make landfall on the lunar surface.
The two missions will help our understanding of the Moon better and could potentially help in future lunar missions and possible human sustenance.
Related | 10 amazing facts about Chandrayaan-3
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