Like Chandrayaan-3, Russia is also preparing for a soft landing on the moon’s south pole. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos has launched the Luna-25 (Luna-Glob lander) mission for this. Launching took place from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on Aug 11, 2023, at 4:40 am IST. It is Russia’s 1st lunar probe since 1976. It is possible that it will land on the moon’s south pole with or before Chandrayaan-3. It will be interesting to see which country will be the first to soft-land on the moon’s south pole.
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Major differences between Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25-
| Chandrayaan-3 | Luna-25 |
| 1. It has a lander and a rover. | 1. It has a lander but does not have a rover. |
| 2. Mass: 3900 Kgs | 2. Mass: 1800 Kg with 31 Kg of scientific pieces of equipment. |
| 3. It has no scoop. | 3. It will use a scoop to take rock samples. |
| 4. Landing site(around): Latitude: 69S Longitude: 32E | 4. Landing site(around): Latitude: 69S Longitude: 43E |
| 5. Launch vehicle: LMV-3 | 5. Launch vehicle: Soyuz-2 Fregat |
| 6. Journey timing: 40 days(around) | 6. Journey timing: 11/12 days(around) |
Might the two moon missions collide or cause problems for each other?
Roscosmos has said that the two missions would not get in each other’s way because they have different landing sites and there is enough space for everyone on the moon.
Conclusion-
Even though, as far as Russia’s Luna-25 will land on the moon before Chandrayaan-3 still India will be 4th country to make a soft landing on the moon and also India will be the first country to land a rover on the south pole of the moon because Luna-25 has no rover.