Chandrayaan-3 vs Russia's Luna-25: Will the two lunar missions get in each other’s way?

After 47 years, Russia isgearing up for itsfirst lunar landing mission,Luna-25, which is nearing the moon. The mission comes at a time when Chandrayaan-3’s landing date is also approaching. Its arrival on the moon's surface could happen in a timeframe that is nearly identical to Chandrayaan-3's or even slightly faster.

As Chandrayaan-3 continues to draw closer to its targeted lunar touchdown, another contender in lunar exploration, Luna-25, the Russian lunar mission launched just last week, has successfully entered lunar orbit and is gearing up for a soft landing attempt on the lunar surface between August 21 and 23. This timing potentially positions Luna-25 ahead of Chandrayaan-3's planned touchdown on August 23.

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When will Russia's Luna-25 land on the moon?

The launch happened from Russia's spaceport, Vostochny Cosmodrome, 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow and was to take considerably less time than India's Chandrayaan-3.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos has told Reuters that its Luna-25 spacecraft would take five days to fly to the moon and then spend five to seven days in lunar orbit before descending on one of the three possible landing sites near the pole.

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Earlier on August 8, ISRO chairman S Somanath said that Vikram, the lander of India’s third lunar mission Chandrayaan-3, will be able to make a soft landing on the Moon's surface on August 23 even if all the sensors and two of its engines do not work.

Will the two lunar missions get in each other’s way?

Roscosmos has said that the two missions would not get in each other's way because they have different landing areas planned, Reuters has reported. "There is no danger that they interfere with each other or collide. There is enough space for everyone on the moon," it said as quoted by Reuters.

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India's Chandrayaan-3 is due to run experiments for two weeks while Luna-25 will work on the moon for a year. With a mass of 1.8 tonnesand carrying 31 kg (68 pounds) of scientific equipment, Luna-25 will use a scoop to take rock samples from a depth of up to 15 cm (6 inches) to test for the presence of frozen water that could support human life.

Originally scheduled for October 2021, Luna-25's launch was postponed by over two years. The European Space Agency (ESA) intended to test its Pilot-D guidance camera by mounting it to Luna-25. However, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year, the ESA severed its ties to the project.

(With inputs from agencies)

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