Chandrayaan-3 vs Russia’s Luna-25: Why Moon’s south pole is so fascinating

Forget the arms race and the tech race. There’s also a race that’s literally out of this world. We are talking about the space race for the Moon that’s on between India and Russia as of now with China and the United States also in the mix.

On Friday morning, Russia launched its first lunar mission in nearly half a century in what is now being hyped as a race with India to the south pole of the Moon’. The Luna-25 spacecraft was launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket, with Yuri Borisov, head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, later saying: “The launch was successful.”

The Russian spacecraft is competing with Chandrayaan-3, which is already orbiting the Moon, and had sent images of the lunar surface recently.

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As both countries’ space agencies attempt to reach the Moon first, it is interesting to note that both of them are aiming to land on the Moon’s south pole and gain the honour of being the first to land a spacecraft intact on or near this region.

But why is this important? Is it more difficult to do so? We give you all the answers.

Chandrayaan-3 vs Luna-25

At 4 am on Friday, Russian space agency Roscosmos launched the Luna-25 mission from the Vosthochny cosmodrome; the first lunar mission for Moscow since 1976.

The Russian mission will travel to the Moon in about five-and-a-half days, where it will spend three to seven days in a 100 kilometres orbit before landing on the surface, reports the Associated Press. This could mean that Luna-25 will land on 23 August, the same day that ISRO plans to land Chandrayaan-3.

If Russia is able to successfully land Luna on the Moon on 23 August, it would have completed the mission faster too. This is because while Luna took off on 11 August, Chandraayan-3’s take-off from Sriharikota occurred on 14 July.

Also read: Chandrayaan-3 launch: Why is exploring the Moon important for humanity?

Roscosmos, however, assured that the two missions won’t interfere with each other, as they have separate landing areas planned. The Russian agency stated, “There is no danger that they interfere with each other or collide. There is enough space for everyone on the Moon,” as per a Reuters report.

Interestingly, Russia and India are aiming for a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole — something that has eluded Russian, American, Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Israeli missions over the years.

However, for Russia, the mission is more than just about space honours. Vitaly Egorov, a popular Russian space analyst, was quoted as telling Deutsche Welle, “Study of the Moon is not the goal.

“The goal is political competition between two superpowers — China and the USA — and a number of other countries which also want to claim the title of space superpower.”

Asif Siddiqi, a professor of history at Fordham University in the United States, also held similar views. Speaking to Deutsche Welle, he said: “The last one was in 1976 so there’s a lot riding on this. Russia’s aspirations towards the Moon are mixed up in a lot of different things. I think first and foremost, it’s an expression of national power on the global stage.”

Also read: Chandrayaan-3’s launch successful: Meet the team behind India’s Moon mission

A first for the world

Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25 are both attempting a world’s first – landing on the south pole of the Moon.

All other spacecraft which have landed on the Moon have landed in the equatorial region, a few degree latitude north or south of the lunar equator. An Indian Express report states that the furthest any spacecraft has gone from the equator was Surveyor 7, launched by NASA, which made a Moon landing way back on 10 January 1968. This spacecraft landed near 40 degrees south latitude.

In April 2019, Israel rocketed towards the Moon, attempting a landing on the south pole, but it crashed.

Even India’s Chandrayaan-2, launched in 2019, was to land on the south pole of the Moon, but the lander carrying the rover crashed into the Moon during the final moments. It was later revealed that the crash was due to a software error.

China’s Chang’e 4 in 2019, which became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the Moon (the side that does not face the earth), landed near the 45-degree latitude.

NASA’s Artemis III, scheduled for a 2025 launch, is also attempting to explore the region near the lunar South Pole.

The fascination with Moon’s south pole

The lunar south pole has long held the interest of scientists and space experts. NASA has, in the past, said, “Extreme, contrasting conditions make it a challenging location for Earthlings to land, live, and work, but the region’s unique characteristics hold promise for unprecedented deep space scientific discoveries that could help us learn about our place in the universe and venture farther into the solar system.”

Experts note that there is a possibility of the presence of water at the south pole. Girish Linganna, space and aerospace expert told The Week that water ice has been detected at both poles of the Moon. The south pole has more area in permanent shadow and colder temperatures, so it is thought to have more water ice.

Moreover, the south pole witnesses extremely cold temperatures; this means that anything trapped here would remain frozen in time, without undergoing much change. The rocks and soil in this region could therefore provide clues to early solar system.

Linganna, further explained, that the south pole is located in the South Pole-Aitken basin, which is a huge crater. “This makes the south pole a geologically interesting place because it is possible that there is material from the deep crust and upper mantle of the Moon on or near the surface. The south pole is also a more promising place to look for ice than the north pole,” he was quoted as telling The Week.

However, exploration of the south pole is not easy. The terrain is difficult and the low temperatures are also a problem. Several parts of the South Pole lie in a completely dark region where sunlight doesn’t penetrate. Also, temperatures fall to as low as below 230 degrees Celsius. The lack of sunlight and extremely low temperatures create difficulty in the operation of instruments. There are also large craters on the south pole, some a few centimetres in size, while some are as large as several thousand kilometres.

Even a former ISRO chief had highlighted several concerns about landing on the south pole of the lunar surface during the Chandrayaan-2 mission, saying there would be “15 minutes of terror” for the space agency before the touchdown.

Space race intensifies

But apart from India and Russia, there are other countries too that are aiming for the Moon. Nasa’s Artemis program is also planning ongoing lunar missions. Artemis 1, an uncrewed test flight, orbited and flew beyond the Moon in late 2022. Future Artemis missions are expected to add to the lunar traffic.

The China-led International Lunar Research Station is also aiming to establish a long-term base with a human presence at the Moon’s south pole region.

The race has heated up with NASA’s administrator Bill Nelson suggested China might occupy the Moon’s south pole if its astronauts get there first, using the dispute over the Spratly Islands to back his claim of a new space race.

“You see the actions of the Chinese government on Earth. They go out and claim some international islands in the South China Sea as theirs, and build military runways on them,” he said at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Tuesday. “Naturally, I don’t want China to get to the south pole first with humans and then say ‘this is ours, stay out’, like they’ve done with the Spratly Islands.”

With inputs from agencies