India’s Chandrayaan-3 in faceoff with Russia’s Luna-25 for unchartered lunar south pole

While India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft advances toward the unexplored southern pole of the Moon, Russia's Luna-25 is poised to achieve the initial landing merely two days ahead of the Indian mission's touchdown. Russia's moon mission is on track to land the Luna-25 on August 21. The uncharted southern region is thought to contain water ice which could be used for future moon missions or a lunar colony.

While the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the Chandrayaan-3 on July 11, Russia’s spacecraft started a more direct course to the Moon on August 11 in an attempt to claim the first historic stake.

The landing for Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25 are, however, scheduled just a few days apart. While Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to land on August 23-24, Luna-25 is scheduled for a touchdown on August 21.

Rough terrain is expected to complicate a landing on the lunar south pole. A previous attempt by Chandrayaan-2, India’s moon mission, crashed in 2019 near where the Chandrayaan-3 will attempt a touchdown.

The Luna-25 entered the moon's orbit on Wednesday, the first Russian spacecraft to do so since 1976. On Saturday, an "emergency" was detected on Saturday during a manoeuvre by Russia's Luna-25 probe prior to its Moon landing

Roughly the size of a small car, it will aim to operate for a year on the south pole, where scientists at NASA and other space agencies in recent years have detected traces of frozen water in the craters.

As for Chandrayaan-3, the Indian space agency said the Moon mission's Lander Module has successfully undergone a deboosting (slowing down) operation taking it closer to the Moon, and that its health is normal. The Lander Module (LM) health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs. IST," tweeted ISRO.

Deboosting is the process of slowing down to position itself in an orbit where the orbit's closest point to the Moon (Perilune) is 30 km and the farthest point (the Apolune) is 100 km.

Meanwhile, the Russian spacecraft on the Moon mission has produced its first results and they are being analysed. Luna-25 has also sent pictures of the Moon's Zeeman crater -- the third deepest in the moon's southern hemisphere.

(With agency inputs)