Russia goes back to the space race

Russia is expected to restart its lunar mission in October this year, ending 45 years of Russian non-moon landing.
Russia is commemorating the Soviet space heritage by carrying out a new series of missions, bringing Russian astronauts back to the Moon.

The first mission, the Luna 25, is scheduled to depart in October this year with the first trip to the South Pole (on the Moon), where Russian scientists will study water vein under the thick ice. “In the next decade, the Moon will be the focus of our program,” said Lev Zelenyi, scientific advisor at the Russian Federal Institute of Space Research, during an online presentation by the Academy of Sciences. Country held on March 23. Luna 25 ship during assembly and testing before launching to the Moon. Photo: Roscosmos. Many companies in Russia have begun to sketch lunar exploration programs. Meanwhile, the US is aiming to probe humans with the Artemis program, combined with robots to carry out missions on the Moon. In December, China transported the first new lunar soil sample to Earth in a series of ongoing missions called Chang’an. India and Israel promise to launch the next ship to the moon after two successful landings in 2019 (the Chandrayaan-2 and Beresheet). However, only the United States can match Russia’s space heritage on the Moon. The Putin administration is getting back to the space race by continuing a series of missions called Luna, following the tail numbers from the Luna 24 they stopped in 1976. “We want to show our steadfastness,” said Mr. Zelenyi. According to the Space , the Luna 25 is designed to study the permafrost beneath the lunar surface. Explorers hope to exploit them as a resource and gauge the danger posed by sharp pieces of moon dust. Upon landing, the ship will use cameras made by Europe to enhance the European Space Agency’s future lunar missions. Mr. Zelenyi emphasized, Luna 25 is just the beginning, the landfall on the Moon consists of a total of 5 missions with many stages being planned. The first Lunokhod-1 rover to operate on another planet. Photo: Wikipedia. In 2023 or 2024, Russia plans to launch the Luna 26 rocket, this time an orbital ship that searches for magnetic and gravitational anomalies on the Moon and captures highly accurate images of the locations. potential landing. Next, in 2025, along with the ship Luna 27, Russia will continue to return to the Moon. According to Mr. Zelenyi, this is the most important time. As the lander this year, Luna 27 will target the Antarctic and carry European landing software. Additionally, Luna 27 will be supported by a robot from the European Space Agency, which includes a drill that collects rock on the Antarctic Moon without melting compounds such as water ice found in the material. The lander will also carry a set of tools designed to study the solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the sun’s upper atmosphere and traversing the solar system, affecting the Moon’s surface. The last two missions in the Luna mission series were told by Mr. Zelenyi that the launch date is not yet set. However, the Luna 28, also known as the Luna-Grunt, will be built directly aboard the ship before it to bring back to Earth frozen stored samples taken from the south pole of the Moon. Freezing the samples helps to retain water and other volatile compounds. “The specimens will be brought back, but different from those that have been brought back to earth before,” said Mr. Zelenyi. According to him, the specimen would be not only the topsoil (on the Moon) but all the volatiles and frozen impurities. This is the technical challenge. Eventually, mission Luna 29 will carry the new Lunokhod rover, continuing to merge with Soviet missions. In 1970, the Lunokhod-1 was the first rover to successfully operate on another planet. The car spent 10 months exploring the area known as the Mare Imbrium or Rainy Sea.