Who will be the first to reach the Earth's South Pole
History is being made today. Roskosmos successfully launched the Luna-25 station to the Earth's satellite after almost half a century of stagnation in this direction. This is the first sign of our big lunar program.
Soyuz-2.1b rocket launches into space AMS «Luna-25». Photo: TsENKI
Of course, it's too early to applaud: the automatic interplanetary station (AMS) has to pass several more fiducial points, including the most the main one – soft landing on the moon. But on August 11, all services at the Vostochny cosmodrome, the creators of the apparatus from the NPO. Lavochkin and, of course, the main scientific payload – specialists of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences – were happy with the start itself.
About how it passed, what signals and when to expect from Luna-25 – in the material of the «MK» observer.
At about 2 am on August 11, the excitement of all those gathered at the cosmodrome and those who watched what was happening live went off scale. Still: after all, the price of success of this launch is very high. For many specialists, scientists, especially those who devoted their whole lives to the development of a national program for the development of the earth's satellite, last night was mega-significant.
The launch, thank God, went like clockwork: after 1 minute 59 seconds, the separation of the 1st stage of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle took place, after 3.32 – dropping the head fairing flaps, after 5 minutes at an altitude of 90 kilometers, the second stage separated from the rocket. And after another 9.24 seconds, the Fregat upper stage remained in orbit along with its payload – «Luna-25». His task was to launch the AMS into lunar orbit.
Half an hour of tedious waiting – and at half past four in the morning, Moscow time, a joyful message was heard from specialists from the NPO. Lavochkina: «There was a successful separation of the AMC» Luna-25 » from the upper stage, the station was put on a flight path to the Moon. This meant that our lunar «machine» took control and henceforth will use only its own engines.
According to experts who immediately tested telemetry and other AMS systems, everything is working properly. Information is regularly received by the Earth, all units of the station are functioning normally, onboard systems are oriented to the Moon.
We exhale a little … We sleep for four hours, and in the morning I call the spaceport again, to ask how everything went. Scientific director of the Russian lunar program, academician Lev Zeleny, who spent the night after launch in the closed city of Tsiolkovsky, 30 km from the cosmodrome, responds almost immediately.
– I sent you my video (it shows how, tens of kilometers from the observer, a small «star» – launch vehicle with an AMC on board rises into the sky), – that's all I saw. Due to unprecedented security measures (which is correct), no one was allowed in close to the launch complex – only those who provided the launch. And then, when everything flew away, we were brought to the launch site, where the head of Roscosmos held a small rally.
Having collected the entire starting crew, 60 people, Yuri Ivanovich Borisov congratulated everyone on a successful launch, presented memorable gifts to everyone who prepared the rocket, AMS, the Fregat upper stage; and directly launched. To be honest, it was very nice to see that ordinary spaceport workers were so noted. Then they gave me the floor…
– Ahead of us – ten days of anxious waiting for the landing, which should take place on August 21 near the South Pole of the Moon, north of the Boguslavsky crater.
– During the flight, there will be an equipment check, two trajectory adjustments, then – 16th – AMS is scheduled to enter a circumlunar circular orbit, take a picture of the Moon from it at a closer passage, and land itself.
The Indians, as you know, are also flying to the Moon now, and are also planning to land in the area of the South Pole. Despite the fact that they launched before us, Luna 25, if all goes according to plan, should land on the moon two days before their Chandrayaan 3 lander. In general, there is some intrigue about who will be the first on the South Pole of the Moon.
– I was very tired, I didn’t sleep for two nights: the previous night there was a flight from Moscow to Blagoveshchensk, then – way to the cosmodrome, this night there was a launch … So there are no emotions yet, except for the desire to relax. Emotions will be on the 21st. Hope it's good.
…So, the significance of the mission «Luna-25» it is difficult to overestimate. This was confirmed by the leading foreign media, noting that the successful implementation of the mission will mean Russia's return to its former high technological level.
The Luna-25 spacecraft — the first Russian lunar lander that continues the sequence of Soviet automatic lunar stations. The main goal & nbsp; scientists – learn to land gently on the moon again. For this, a not very convenient, mountainous terrain was chosen.
But it was at the South Pole of the Moon that the Russian neutron telescope LEND, installed as part of the cooperation program between Roscosmos and NASA on the American lunar orbiter LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO), discovered in 2009 a lot of water and other complex molecules that were brought to the Moon by comets .
Scientists compare the lunar South Pole with a natural refrigerator, in which for hundreds of millions of years the frost layers of all cosmic volatile substances that have ever fallen on our satellite have been accumulated and preserved. Luna-25 instruments they will study the composition of these substances, assess the mass fraction of frozen water in the regolith, and answer the question: will it be enough, theoretically, for the future first settlers to quench their thirst, extract oxygen, and maybe even for hydrogen rocket fuel for future interplanetary flights.
These advantages of the South Pole are now understood by all the space agencies of the world, and so far only Russia and India have had the opportunity to be among the first to land their spacecraft there.
As for the United States, their old Apollo program, which ended in the 1970s, was aimed only at the equatorial part of the Moon, and the new one, Artemis, launched last year, forced only the Orion flyby of the Moon. ;, no landing. But they have a manned mission to the Moon already planned for 2024.
The Chinese are ahead of the United States and Russia in terms of the total number of recently implemented lunar projects. They landed on the moon from orbit, took samples, returned the lunar module to lunar orbit, docked, reloaded the soil, sent the flight module to Earth and returned it to China. A manned launch is planned no later than 2030.
In our country, according to Yuri Borisov, the next launch is scheduled for 2027, and this will not be a test of a manned flight, but just sending an AMS to a lunar orbit, without landings.
Realizing all this, you understand even more how important it is for us now to get at least some advantage in our field of activity, having staked out a priority for the exploration of the South Pole of the Moon.