Indian and Russian probes successfully reach lunar orbit, ready to conquer its south pole

The race for the south pole of the Moon is still exciting. Neither of the two candidates to settle for the first time at the dark lunar south pole gives up an inch in their flight plan and everything indicates that the winner will be decided when the landing systems are put to the test. Both the Indian probe Chandrayaan-3 and the Russian Luna-25 have successfully completed their latest positioning maneuvers in the lowest lunar orbit within hours of each other. Now all that remains is for them to try to land gently: the Roscosmos apparatus, on August 21; and two days later, that of the Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO).

“Luna-25 entered the orbit of the Moon!” The Russian agency celebrated in a statement. “For the first time in the modern history of Russia, a robotic probe reached the orbit of the Moon!” emphasized Roscosmos. Specifically, at 12:03 Moscow time (11:03 Spanish peninsular time), the module correctly carried out the braking maneuver, after five days of flight, to be located around the Earth’s satellite, 100 kilometers from its surface.

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As Roscosmos explains, two ignitions of the probe’s propulsion system, which in total lasted just over 300 seconds, placed Luna-25 in its ideal position for the landing attempt on Monday the 21st. Luna-25 work normally,” adds the Russian agency, “and communication is stable.”

Six hours earlier, Chandrayaan-3 had performed its fifth and final lunar orbit maneuver, coming within 150 kilometers of its surface, as planned. “It is time to prepare as the propulsion module and lander prepare for their separate journeys,” explained ISRO. Contrary to the case of the Russian probe, which flew alone, the Indian apparatus that is intended to land on the Moon has traveled propelled together with another module and must be separated before landing. That maneuver is scheduled for August 17, the last delicate test before the most difficult of all: landing gently.

Although they practically coincide in time, the Russian space agency assured before the launch that the two missions will not interfere because they have two very distant objectives: “There is no danger of them interfering with each other or colliding. There is enough space for everyone on the moon,” a Roscosmos spokesman told Reuters. The place chosen by Russia to land is next to the Bogoslavsky crater, about 120 kilometers from the one chosen for Chandrayaan-3.

Both missions compete for the gold medal in a new space race, that of the lunar ice. Never has an artifact landed next to the dark and icy craters of the Moon’s south pole, where scientists believe there are large amounts of frozen water, a decisive element in the next leaps of space exploration, since it can serve as fuel , source of oxygen and liquid to drink. However, the most serious competitors to conquer that ice are the two superpowers, the US and China.

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