On August 3, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that the country will launch the Luna-25 lunar probe on August 11, marking the restart of Russia’s lunar exploration program after nearly 50 years.
Luna-25 lunar probe.
According to RIA Novosti, the launch time for the Luna-25 probe is set for the morning of August 11, when the Soyuz-2.1b rocket will be launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Province at 2:10 AM (Moscow time), carrying the Fregat upper stage and the automatic station into space. After launch and separation from the rocket, the Fregat upper stage will direct the automatic station to a trajectory towards the Moon. After four and a half days, the station will enter lunar orbit and will change its orbit several times before landing in the South Pole region.
The mission of Luna-25 is to test soft landing technologies in the lunar polar region and conduct research on its internal structure as well as explore resources, including water. The scientific mission of Luna-25 is expected to last for one year.
Russia’s previous probe, Luna-24, was launched into space in 1976. This event entered the history of global space exploration when the samples collected from the Moon at that time proved the presence of water on Earth’s only natural satellite. Following Luna-25, Russia plans to launch Luna-26 and Luna-27 in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
