Luna25 continues its voyage towards moon
The Luna-25 mission from Russia is still travelling towards Earth’s sole natural satellite, and all of its systems are in good condition.
In a report from the continuing Luna-25 mission, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Sunday that the autonomous probe had successfully turned on its scientific apparatus.
According to a statement from Roscosmos, “all systems of the automatic station are functioning normally, the connection with it is stable, and the energy balance is positive.” It confirmed that the probe turned on its scientific tools once ground control received data demonstrating that all systems are operating as intended.
The project’s scientific team has started analysing the first samples of data that were obtained during the voyage to the Moon, according to the space agency.
Taking its name from the Luna programme of the Soviet period, Luna-25 became the first Moon mission for contemporary Russia. Between 1958 and 1976, 24 probes in all were launched, setting several significant milestones.
If the proposed mission is successful, it will attempt to place the first artificial object in the arid south pole area of the Moon. The equatorial portions of the satellite are much simpler to access, thus all past expeditions have landed there. At the landing location, the probe will collect regolith samples and conduct a number of lengthy scientific investigations.
By August 21, the mission is anticipated to have touched down on the Moon, around two days before India makes another effort to scale the polar highlands of the satellite. The Chandrayaan-3 mission from that nation has already entered the Moon’s orbit and is scheduled to touch down on August 23. India’s last effort to make a lunar landing in the poles failed miserably in 2019 and resulted in the destruction of the Chandrayaan-2 mission and its lander, Vikram.