India’s Chandrayaan-3 Mission different from Russia’s Luna-25, says ISRO scientist

An Indian space scientist has said that Mission Chandrayaan-3 is vastly different from Russia's Luna-25 in terms of methodology, route, and experiments.

The Indian moon-landing spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July whereas Luna-25 took off on 11 August. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to land on the lunar surface around August 23 after completing a 40-day journey. On the other hand, Luna-25 is expected to land on the moon around August 21, two days ahead of Chandrayaan-3. However, both missions will attempt to land on the lunar south pole.

'GAP IN JOURNEY'

The Russian lunar mission is racing against India, which launched its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander last month.

Chandrayaan-3 may land after 40 days on Moon's south pole due to the spacecraft's reliability on the gravitational forces of the Earth and moon, a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation explained. Luna-25, on the other hand, is a high-powered rocket with a higher fuel load, capable of powering the spacecraft through the mission, without having to rely on external help.

LUNA-25

With Luna-25, Russia has launched its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years in a bid to be the first nation to make a soft landing on the lunar south pole. A Soyuz 2.1 rocket carried Luna-25 craft on 10 August from the Vostochny cosmodrome, 3,450 miles (5,550 km) east of Moscow. Luna-25, roughly the size of a small car, whose lander is expected to touch down on the moon on 21 August.

No country has made a soft landing on the south pole. India's Chandrayaan-2 failed in 2019.

Chandrayaan-3

India's ambitious third Moon mission 'Chandrayaan-3' will safely touch down near the Moon's little-explored south pole between August 23 and 24.

Developed by ISRO, Chandrayaan-3 includes a lander module named Vikram, which means "valour" in Sanskrit, and a rover named Pragyan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.

If the landing is successful the rover will roll off Vikram and explore the nearby lunar area, gathering images to be sent back to Earth for analysis.

The rover has a mission life of one lunar day or 14 Earth days.