Russia goes to the Moon for the first time in 47 years: What is Russia’s purpose?

Russia has sent an uncrewed spacecraft to the Moon’s south pole for the first time in 47 years. If successful, this mission will go down in history as the first spacecraft to land in the region and will fire the flare for many countries or private companies. But Russia’s goal isn’t just to be the first country to land on the Moon’s south pole.

Why Russia goes to the Moon after 47 years

Russia successfully launched its first spacecraft to land on the Moon in 47 years, aiming to become the first country to make a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole. Not only that, Russia wants to stay in the race with the US and China, which have advanced lunar exploration programs. Russia will also be in search of valuable water ice in this region with the Luna 25 spacecraft launched at the same time.

Nico Dettman, Leader of the European Space Agency’s Lunar Exploration Group, states that hydrogen and oxygen can be produced using water ice, and this can be used to produce drinking water, breathable air and rocket fuel. This could make the Moon a stepping stone to reach farther targets in the Solar System.

First Moon mission after 1976

Russia successfully launched the Luna 25 spacecraft on a Soyuz 2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the east of the country at 09:10 local time on August 10. This also indicates that Russia is moving away from its dependence on Kazakhstan, which is home to the main launch site, the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Luna 25, which took twenty years to build, is a stationary lander weighing approximately 1,750 kilograms, and is Russia’s first attempt to land on the Moon since the Luna 24 mission, which brought the Moon rocks back to Earth in 1976.

It will take about five days for the spacecraft to reach a 100-kilometer orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft is scheduled to land on the 100-kilometer-wide Boguslawsky crater, about 500 kilometers from the Moon’s south pole, on August 21. Actually, there is a kind of race here. Because India’s Chandrayaan-3 vehicle will also try to land in the region on August 23. China plans to send a rover to the region in 2026, while NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to get humans back to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, also focuses on the south pole. As part of Artemis, several US companies will attempt to land there in the coming years.