Russia Maintains a new species in space. Its competition is no longer America, it is now India. How about this new competition for success? Luna?
The India Y Russia In the coming weeks, they will follow the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) over the last century, competing to be the first nation to land on Earth’s South Pole. LunaIn a fight that can be decided in a matter of hours.
The India It launched its space mission on July 14 Chandrayaan-3 want LunaIt will enter lunar orbit on August 5 and is scheduled to land on the moon at its southernmost point on the 23rd of this month.
A milestone that makes the Asian country the fourth country after the US to touch Earth’s satellite, Russia and China, but will become the first nation to reach its South Pole.
However, the only stumbling block for this ambitious endeavor was the proper execution of the lunar landing maneuver, correcting the mistakes made in 2019 when another Indian mission crashed into the lunar surface. Russia This week it announced the launch of another ship with the same destination: the South Pole Luna.
Modern space race
The Russian mission, named Luna-25, will lift off this Friday and resume its lunar mission, which has been stalled since 1976. When the country was still part of the Soviet Union.
Despite the disadvantage of 28 days from Earth compared to its Indian rival, the Russian ship expects to win this modern space race, as according to the calculations of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the moon landing will happen within 21 and less. August 23.
After liftoff from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome on Aug. 11, the mission will take five days to reach lunar orbit, where it will spend five to seven days before performing a landing mission at the South Pole, Roscosmos said.
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) spokesperson B.H.M. Tarukesha said he was aware of the progress of the Russian mission through Indian agency media but declined to comment.
In comparison, the Indian mission is scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface forty days after launch, which is ISRO’s largest, but is associated with a lack of power in the rocket that launched it into space.
This prompted the Indian ship to circumnavigate the globe for twenty days LunaIt will orbit for another 18 days until it attempts to land on the moon on August 23.
We recommend you
Moon descends in different regions
Regardless of the winner of this race, both expeditions plan to use different areas of the South Pole. LunaAnd their duration is also very different.
While the Russian program will be used to test new moon landing technologies, take and analyze surface samples and conduct long-term research, the Indian agency will be active during one period of lunar light, which roughly translates to 14 Earth days. .
During that time, the Indian station, with its lander and rover, will conduct scientific experiments and Collect data on the satellite’s mineral composition and water availability in this area Luna.
The two companies’ growth coincided, however, in the series of delays they experienced in their launch dates.
The launch of Luna-25, in which the European Space Agency (ESA) planned to send part of its technology through a cooperation agreement. RussiaCollapsed after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was initially planned for October 2021, but its date has gradually been pushed back to this month.
As ISRO was scheduled to take off in 2021, the Indian mission was also delayed by more than a year. Chandrayaan-2 was called upon to forget their defeat with Chandrayaan-2, which crashed during its descent towards the Moon in September 2019. surface due to technical difficulties in reducing speed.
In the last four years since then, Indian engineers have thoroughly investigated and fixed all the errors that led to the disappointment, said S. Somanath, chairman of the space agency. The India.
This contrasts with the cautionary tone Roscosmos general director Yuri Borisov had taken during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last June, explaining that this type of mission “always carries risk” and warned about the likelihood of success. Usually 70%.
With information from EFE
