Russia launched Luna 25 on Friday, the country’s first moon mission in 47 years. The Luna-25 took off from the Vostok launch facility in the Russian Far East, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
According to CNN, Luna 25 launched on a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket and lifted off at 8:10 a.m. local time on Friday. The Fregat booster separated from the rocket’s third stage about 564 seconds after launch, TASS reported. The Luna-25 spacecraft will separate from the booster about an hour after launch. The flight to the moon takes up to 5.5 days.
The spacecraft will stay about 100 kilometers above the lunar surface for 3 to 7 days before reaching the Boguslavsky crater region. Meanwhile, Mancinus and Pentland-A craters have been designated as alternative landing sites.
The main goal of the mission is to perfect soft landing techniques. The mission could become the first spacecraft ever to reach the South Pole of Earth’s natural satellite, TASS news agency reported.
The spacecraft will search for natural resources, including water, and analyze the effects of space rays and electromagnetic radiation on the lunar surface. Luna 25, also known as Luna-Glob-Lander, will spend a year studying the composition of the lunar polar soil and the plasma and dust contained in the very thin lunar exosphere, or lunar thin atmosphere.
The lander has several cameras that will capture time-lapse footage of the touchdown and HDR wide-angle images of the lunar landscape. According to Tass news agency, Luna-25 will turn the camera for a pre-programmed time and after receiving a signal from Earth.
“The lander has a quadrupedal base that houses the landing rocket and propellant tanks, and the upper compartment holds solar panels, communications equipment, onboard computers and most of the equipment,” NASA said in a statement. .Scientific Instruments.”
According to a statement released by NASA, the lander has a 1.6-meter Lunar Robotic Arm (LRA, or Lunar Robotic Arm) to remove and collect surface regolith at a depth of 20 to 30 centimeters. The LRA is equipped with a scoop (volume 175 cm3) and a sample collection tool, which is a tube with an internal diameter of 1.25 cm and a length of 4.7 cm.
The world is watching closely as Europe and the United States isolate Russia in the Ukraine war, and Russia seeks to strengthen political and economic ties with non-Western countries in response.
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