Russia's lunar spacecraft, Luna 25, has officially entered the Moon's orbit and has shared the first pictures of the far side of the lunar surface, which is permanently invisible from the Earth.
According to the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS), the images show the south polar crater called the Zeeman crater, which is a unique phenomenon on the Moon's surface and is hidden from the Earth's view due to synchronous rotation.
The height of the crater's shaft is 8 km above the surface of a relatively flat bottom. The images have piqued the interest of researchers and can potentially provide valuable geological data of the lunar surface. The latest achievement is significant and is reminiscent of the first images of the far side of the Moon, obtained by the Soviet Union's Luna-3 spacecraft in October 1959.
The STS-L television complex was created at the IKI RAS. Additionally, the Luna 25 spacecraft carried out observations using the ADRON-LR and PmL instruments, also created at the IKI RAS. The observations were also done with the help of ARIES-L, created at the IKI RAS with the cooperation of Astron Electronics.
The instruments allow the measurement of gamma rays and neutrons from the lunar surface. The data on parameters of circumlunar space plasma, gas and dust exosphere in the circumlunar orbit was also obtained.
A significant achievement for Russia
The Luna 25 programme is a significant achievement for Russia's space exploration capabilities. It is the first lunar mission of the country in nearly 50 years, as the last Luna 24 mission took place in 1976.
The spacecraft entered the Moon's orbit on Wednesday and is expected to touch down on the surface by August 21, ahead of India's Chandrayaan-3. It was launched by the Russian space agency Roscosmos on August 11.
On the same day, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the brains and muscle behind Chandrayaan-3, posted a congratulatory message on X (formerly Twitter) for Roscosmos on the successful launch of the Luna 25 spacecraft. "Congratulations, Roscosmos on the successful launch of Luna-25. Wonderful to have another meeting point in our space journeys. Wishes for Chandrayaan-3 & Luna-25 missions to achieve their goals," said the ISRO.
According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Luna 25 has a four-legged base containing landing rockets and propellent tanks. It has eight science instruments, including a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometre, an infra-red spectrometre and a mass spectrometre.
The 'Luna 25' launch was fraught with repeated setbacks and delays. The European Space Agency (ESA) withdrew its cooperation from the lunar exploration program after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, as well as future missions. Despite the setback, Moscow decided to go ahead with its lunar plans and replaced ESA equipment with Russian-made instruments. Russian President Vladimir Putin also insisted last year on developing its lunar programs despite Western sanctions.
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