Russia to launch first moon mission in 47 years: Here is how Luna-25 is different from Chandrayaan-3

Russia’s expected launch of the lunar mission has now sparked speculations about whether it will beat India to become the first nation to land a rover on the Moon's south pole.

Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, in a reply to questions from Reuters, said that its Luna-25 is expected to reach the Moon in five days and spend five to seven days in lunar orbit before descending to one of its designated landing sites. This timeline suggests that the Russian mission might closely match or slightly precede Chandrayaan-3's arrival on the Moon. The two missions, however, will not be interfering with each other since they have different landing areas planned.

Roscosmos has even asserted that there is “enough space” on the Moon for both missions and there’s no collision risk between the two spacecraft.

The space agency added that the Luna-25 mission is planned to operate on the lunar surface for a year, conducting a range of scientific experiments and observations.

In contrast, Chandrayaan-3 mission is expected to last for two weeks, which suggests that its focus will be on specific experiments during its limited time on the Moon.

Meanwhile, Chandrayaan-3's successful entry into the Moon's orbit marked a significant achievement for India's space agency, ISRO, after a previous attempt ended in failure four years ago. India has been working diligently to address past challenges and ensure a successful mission this time around. ISRO's chief, S Somanath, has emphasised that engineers have analysed data from the failed mission to rectify glitches and improve the chances of success.