Russia has successfully launched Luna 25, the country’s first lunar lander in 47 years.
The uncrewed spacecraft lifted off from the Vostochnyy Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast.
The spacecraft is expected to first enter an orbit around Earth before transferring to a lunar orbit and ultimately descending to the surface of the moon.
Russia’s last lunar lander, Luna 24, landed on the moon on August 18, 1976.
Luna 25, also called the Luna-Glob-Lander, will study the composition of the moon’s polar soil and the plasma and dust contained in the very thin lunar exosphere, or the moon’s scant atmosphere, for one year.
The four-legged lander includes landing rockets, propellant tanks, solar panels, computers and a robotic arm equipped with a scoop to collect lunar samples, as well as a suite of instruments to study the samples and exosphere.
Weighing approximately 800 kg and equipped with 4 legs, the lander is aimed at executing a controlled landing at the Moon's southern pole.
Initially, Ros cosmos and the European Space Agency planned to partner on Luna 25, as well as Luna 26, Luna 27 and the ExoMars rover.
But that partnership ceased in April 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the ESA Council moved to discontinue cooperative activities with Russia.
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