Luna-25 vs Chandrayaan-3 - The race to the Moon's South Pole

Chandrayaan-3 is currently in lunar orbit and will attempt to land it's rover on August 23rd.

Luna-25 is scheduled to take-off later today, and could be ready to land around the same time as Chandrayaan-3.

Both missions will search for ice on the Moon.

Chandrayaan-3 vs Luna-25: Race against time

The Luna-25 mission is expected to operate on the lunar surface for approximately one year, significantly longer than Chandrayaan-3's planned two-week operation period.

Despite their shared objectives, these missions differ significantly in their strategies, timelines, and research goals. While Chandrayaan-3 focuses on demonstrating safe landings and conducting on-site scientific experiments, Luna-25 aims to analyse lunar soil and exosphere. Regardless of which mission lands first, both will contribute significantly to our understanding of the Moon and potentially aid in planning future lunar missions.

Chandrayaan-3 Live Tracker:



Here's the rocket with Luna-25, ready for launch.

a reply to: IndieA

why searching for ice on the moon when we have already contact, interstellar fights, moon bases, abductions, alien spacecrafts huge as the empire state building…? why dont they just ask the aliens if there is ice on the moon? these missions are expansive and they could use the billions for weapons…

originally posted by: malte85
a reply to: IndieA

why searching for ice on the moon when we have already contact, interstellar fights, moon bases, abductions, alien spacecrafts huge as the empire state building…? why dont they just ask the aliens if there is ice on the moon? these missions are expansive and they could use the billions for weapons…

Because there's absolutely no proof of interstellar fights, moon bases, abductions, or alien spacecrafts huge as the empire state building, but there is a lot of disinformation out there about such claims.

I also haven't seen any evidence that advanced intelligence has come anywhere near Earth.
Quite the opposite.

Luna-25 is less than half an hour away from launch.




We have lift off and an official race to land a rover on the South Pole of the Moon!

With so many countries in orbit, they are perhaps looking for more than ice on the moon.

www.isro.gov.in...

The current situation around the moon

As of July 2023, there are 6 active lunar orbiters (see Fig-1). Two of the five probes of NASA’s THEMIS mission have been re-purposed under ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun) as ARTEMIS P1 and ARTEMIS P2, both operate in eccentric orbits of low inclination. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) orbits the Moon in a nearly polar, slightly elliptical orbit. Chandrayaan-2, the second lunar mission of ISRO and Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) also operate in polar orbits of 100 km altitude. NASA’s Capstone operates in a 9:2 resonant southern L2 NRHO, its perilune passes over the lunar North pole at 1500-1600 km altitude, while the apolune is over the South pole at a distance of nearly 70,000 km. The Japanese spacecraft Ouna which was placed in lunar orbit as part of Kaguya/SELENE mission in 2009 and Chandrayaan-1 launched in 2008 are the two defunct spacecraft. All the other orbiters have been either moved out of the moon-bound orbital regime or have landed/impacted the lunar surface, either deliberately or due to failure to land softly. For example, Chang’e 4 mission’s data relay satellite Queqiao, launched by China in May 2018, was later moved to a halo orbit near the Earth-Moon L2 point. Currently, the only operating rover is China’s Yutu-2 rover released by Chang’e 4, which operates on the far side. From the available media sources, it is expected that Luna-25 of Russia with a Lander and Rover will be in Lunar orbit of 100 km by August 16, 2023 and will be landing on South pole of the moon by August 21-23, 2023.

a reply to: putnam6

With so many countries in orbit, they are perhaps looking for more than ice on the moon.

They've got to practice their landings for starters.

Here's more information about the Chandrayaan-3 mission and experiments.

Chandrayaan-3

Here's more information about the Luna-25 mission and experiments.

Luna-25

IF: the USA really did succeed in putting men on the moon...

and

(IF: lunar-based aliens did not warn us to stay off the moon, thereby ending the Apollo missions...

xor ( IF: the civilian Apollo missions were continued as covert military missions....
and IF: the USA does NOT already have a secret moon-base...
) )

THEN:

I encourage all interested parties to re-read Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Part of the plot examines the feasibility of bombarding targets on Earth with "Ore-shipments". Human colonist miners on the moon had been routinely dropping ore-shipments (tons of rock) to carefully selected receiving points on Earth. After a rail-gun lift from lunar surface, it's a downhill drop to send tons of material to Earth surface. One just has to work out the orbital mechanics for proper "touchdown" on Earth's surface.

Then Earth gets more demanding, so the colonists revolt and start dropping tons of moon-rock on strategic targets on Earth, until the Earth government accedes to the Lunar colonists' demands.

A fun sci-fi story... but also the best ever justification for spending billions of dollars to be in control of the moon when the launching begins: Chelyabinsk or Chicxulub on demand... it would distinctly suck to be on the receiving end... all the fun of extinction level events, without lingering radioactivity.

Russia issues positive update on historic lunar mission

Russia’s Luna-25 probe is heading toward the Moon after successfully leaving Earth’s orbit, state space agency Roscosmos said on Friday. The lunar mission is Russia’s first in almost 50 years, and was launched earlier in the day from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur Region. “After separation from the Fregat booster stage, the automatic probe was taken under control,” Roscosmos said in a brief statement. All the probe’s systems are functioning properly, with ground control maintaining stable communications, the space agency added.

Russia is scheduled to win the race to landing on the Moon's South Pole.

The mission is expected to touch down on the Moon by August 21, two days before India’s Chandrayaan-3, which is already in lunar orbit and is also destined for a polar landing.

Russia receives first data from its historic Moon mission

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos provided an update on Sunday from the ongoing Luna-25 mission, confirming the automatic probe has successfully switched on its scientific equipment.

“All systems of the automatic station are working normally, the connection with it is stable, and the energy balance is positive,” Roscosmos said in a statement. The probe switched on its scientific equipment, it confirmed, with ground control receiving telemetry showing all systems are functioning properly.

From the comment section:

Karl Johnson

Meanwhile, N.A.S.A. gears up for Artemis II and SpaceX prepares for its next orbital test flight in the next two months.

Good thread! S and F for you

Indian Moon mission reaches new milestone

The lander module of India’s lunar mission successfully separated from the propulsion module of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on Thursday, the Indian space agency has announced.

The Vikram lander, named after Dr Vikram A Sarabhai, considered the father of the Indian space program, will now continue its solo journey to the Moon, while the propulsion module will remain in lunar orbit for months or even years. 

Luna-25 has made it to lunar orbit, but seems to have a glitch.

There's a thread posted about it here:

Luna-25 has "abnormal situation" Above the Moon

Luna-25 had crashed into the Moon.

There goes a year's worth of research.

Russia's Luna-25 Spacecraft Crashes Into Moon

The craft, which was meant to get a sense of whether the moon could support a permanent base for humans, crashed after spinning into an "unpredictable orbit", the Russian space corporation said.

Russia had hoped that the robot would spend a year collecting samples of rock and dust after landing on the moon's south pole, which was due to happen on Monday.

However, the space corporation said it had lost contact with the craft after it ran into unspecified trouble while preparing for the pre-landing orbit.

"The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon," Roscosmos said in a statement on Sunday.

Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to land on Wednesday.

Russia reveals reason for Moon crash

The head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, Yury Borisov, has revealed the main cause behind the failure of the Luna-25 Moon mission. The probe failed to shut off its engines in time and veered from its intended orbit, the space boss explained.

“Unfortunately, the engine shutdown did not happen normally, in accordance with the sequence diagram, but based on a time stamp, and instead of the planned 84 seconds, it ran for 127 seconds,” Borisov told the Rossiya 24 broadcaster on Monday.

This factor was the crucial reason behind the failure of the mission, Borisov stated, adding that a special commission had already been established to investigate the incident.  

“Preliminary ballistic calculations showed that due to the abnormal operation of the propulsion system, the device moved into an open lunar orbit and, basically, crashed into the surface of the Moon,” the space official said.

Chandrayaan-3: ISRO releases latest visuals of the Moon




If my calculation are correct, Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to land at 8:35am EST.

We are about an hour and a half away from Chandrayaan-3's lunar landing attempt.



ISRO Official:

They did it!

India has preformed a soft landing on the South Pole of the Moon!

The landing was automated and somewhat exciting to watch. Just before landing, the lander preformed a controlled hover, then looked as though it was steering itself around looking for a good place to land. Very impressive.

Congratulations India!

Follow-up:
PM Modi has stated that India will share the South Pole of the Moon with the rest of the world and had declared the Chandrayaan-3 landing a success and achievement for all of humanity.

So when will the rover be deployed and when will we be able to see more images from the Moon?

Chandraya an-3 lands on Moon: Time for Pragyan rover to roll out

As Chandrayaan-3 makes history by successfully landing on the surface of the Moon, making India just the fourth in the world to do it, all eyes are now on the deployment of the Pragyan rover.

Like an intrepid explorer, Pragyan is set to roll out onto the Moon's surface, leaving behind an indelible mark—a set of footprints adorned with Isro's logo and India's Emblem — a symbol of India's foray into lunar exploration that will endure for eternity.

Following the successful landing of the Vikram lander, Pragyan's journey begins, promising exciting scientific discoveries and groundbreaking achievements. One remarkable aspect of this mission is the exchange of photographs between Vikram and Pragyan. These images will traverse the vast expanse of space and be relayed back to Earth through a specialised communication network. This network leverages the capabilities of the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, the propulsion module, and Isro's Deep Space Network Antennas, ensuring that the world can witness this interstellar rendezvous.

Before Pragyan sets off on its scientific mission, Isro will take every precaution to confirm the safety and well-being of both Vikram and Pragyan. Once this is assured, a series of diverse experiments will commence to unravel the Moon's long-held secrets.