Luna-25 captures first detailed image of moon's surface
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Luna-25, Russia's first lunar lander mission in almost 50 years, has beamed back an image of the lunar surface.
The mission spacecraft snapped the image as it orbits the Moon and prepares for a soft landing on the lunar south pole. Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, shared the image via a Telegram post on 17 August.
It may get there before India's Chandrayaan-3 lander, meaning it would be the first lunar lander to touch down in that particular region of the lunar surface.
The world's leading space powers have set their sights on the lunar south pole because scientists believe there are pockets of ice water hidden beneath lunar soil and inside shadowed craters.
Russia races to the lunar south pole
Luna-25 captured its first detailed image of the Moon's surface as it races India's Chandrayaan-3 lander to the lunar south pole.
"Pictured is the south polar crater Zeeman on the far side of the moon," Roscosmos officials wrote in the Telegram post, alongside the image. "The coordinates of the center of the crater correspond to 75 degrees south latitude and 135 degrees west longitude."
Russia's lunar lander launched on 10 August and it entered lunar orbit on Wednesday, 16 August. It is now two days into a roughly five-day orbit before touchdown is expected on the Moon around 21 August.
The landing dates are subject to change, but Luna-25 will likely beat Chandrayaan-3 to the lunar south pole by a day or two, as India's lander is currently expected to land on the Moon on 23 August.
Luna-25 is Russia's first lunar lander since Luna-24 in 1976. The Luna-25 spacecraft captured its first images from space on Sunday, 13 August, showing the Moon and Earth from thousands of miles away.
A new space race
If all goes according to plan, Luna-25 will land and spend a year on the lunar south pole searching for ice water and performing a number of other scientific investigations.
The lander features eight instruments, including a laser mass spectrometer, to help it analyze lunar soil, search for ice water, and investigate the Moon's incredibly thin atmosphere.
NASA also eventually aims to reach the lunar south pole and establish a permanent colony on the Moon with its Artemis program. The Artemis III mission is currently scheduled for 2025 and it is set to be the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The first US lander to reach the lunar south pole, meanwhile, will likely be a privately-built spacecraft developed by Intuitive Machines. The Houston-based company recently announced its Nova-C lunar lander is fully built and ready to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in September this year.
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