Russia’s first moon mission in almost 50 years retains notching milestones.
The Luna-25 lander has snapped its first detailed photograph of the moon’s floor, the Russian area company Roscosmos introduced right this moment (Aug. 17) in a Telegram put up.
“Pictured is the south polar crater Zeeman on the far facet of the moon,” Roscosmos officers wrote in the put up, which additionally shared the photograph. “The coordinates of the middle of the crater correspond to 75 levels south latitude and 135 levels west longitude.” (The put up is in Russian; translation by Google.)
Associated: Russia launches Luna-25 moon lander, its 1st lunar probe in 47 years
Luna-25 launched on Aug. 10, marking the beginning of a brand new period of Russian area exploration. The final Russian moon probe to take flight was Luna-24 in 1976, when the nation was nonetheless a part of the Soviet Union.
Luna-25 snapped its first in-space pictures on Sunday (Aug. 13), capturing selfies with the distant moon and Earth within the background. That milestone was quickly adopted by a fair larger one — reaching lunar orbit, successful that Roscosmos introduced yesterday (Aug. 16).
Luna-25 stays in lunar orbit, nevertheless it will not be there for lengthy. The probe is scheduled to make a landing attempt within the coming days, maybe as quickly as Aug. 21.
The lander will purpose for a patch of grey filth close to the the moon’s south pole, an space considered wealthy in water ice. If Luna-25 sticks the touchdown, the spacecraft will hunt for water ice and carry out a wide range of different investigations throughout a floor mission anticipated to final one Earth 12 months.
Russia is not the one nation with the south pole in its sights. India’s Chandrayaan 3 lander goals to the touch down within the space as properly, on Aug. 23 or Aug. 24. And NASA is focusing on the lunar south pole over the longer haul: The company plans to land the crewed Artemis 3 mission there in late 2025 or 2026, a prelude to the development of a number of bases within the area.
