After launching its first lunar mission in nearly 50 years, Russia has released a photo of the moon’s surface. A camera complex of the “Luna-25” probe took the photo from the moon’s orbit and sent it to Earth, the Russian space agency Roskosmos announced in Moscow on Thursday.
For example, the Zeeman crater near the south pole on the far side of the moon can be seen, which is not visible from Earth and is of interest to researchers.
Roskosmos recalled that the first images of the far side of the moon were taken already in 1959 with the Soviet probe “Luna-3”. The new mission is the first since the launch of the last Soviet lunar probe, Luna-24, in 1976.
The probe must search for water
On Wednesday, “Luna-25” reached lunar orbit after more than five days of flight time. The probe’s systems were operating normally, the connection was stable, it said. On the runway, the probe is currently searching for an ideal landing site.
According to Roskosmos, the 1,800 kilogram probe will land near the south pole of the moon on August 21. One of the tasks is to search for water. The first Russian lunar mission in nearly 50 years launched on Friday, August 11 from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Amur region.
Mission follows own space station to the moon?
“Luna-25” is part of the Russian lunar program, which provides for the construction of a space station on the celestial body by 2040. Actually, the new probe should have been on its way for a long time. The first planned launch date for a lunar probe was 2012. Last year, the launch was supposed to take place in May, but the mission was delayed due to technical problems.
Roskosmos originally worked with the European space agency ESA on the lunar program. However, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, ESA ended its cooperation with Moscow.
Source: Krone
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