Russia's Lunar-25 Launched on 11 August May Reach The Moon's Surface Sooner Then Chandryan-3
Research Organisation's (ISRO's) heaviest rocket, Launch Vehicle Mark-3, lifted off form Sriharikota with its two solid strap-on boosters breathing out orange plume, guiding it through its brief but majestic vertical ascent.
Over 28 days after the launch and several orbital manoeuvres later, the propulsion module has been placed in an orbit around the moon. For the first time in nearly half a century, a Russian spacecraft is headed to the moon. On Friday (11 August) morning , at a spaceort located in the remote eastern part of the Russia, a Soyuz rocket carried Luna-25, a moderately sized robotic lander, into Earth's orbit.
Approximately 80 minutes after liftoff, Luna-25's course was adjusted to set it on a trajectory towards the moon.
The plan is for it to reach the moon, establish orbit by 16 August, and then make an attempt to land on the lunar surface, possibly as early as 21 August, two days ahead of india's Chandryan-3 which is also poised for a landing in the same vicinity -the moon's south polar region.
This has led many in india to question why the russian moon lander, launched nearly four weeks after the Chanryan-3 mission, might potentially reach the lunar surface days before it.
chandryan-3 began its journey as indian Space
Although the travel duration may seem reasonable given the distance between the Earth and the Moon, itis important to note that many previous missions have completed this journey in a shorter time.
Why Chandryan-3 Is Taking Longer
The simple answer is because ISRO, unlike the Russians, the chinese and the Americans, does not have a rocket powerful enough to put Chandryan-3 on a direct path to the Moon.
In the case of Apollo missions, including Apollo 11, a direct trajectory called Translunar Injection (TLI) was used. The Saturn V launch vehicle propelled the Apollo spacecraft into the Earth orbit first.
From there, a powerful engine burn was executed to send the spacecraft on a trajectory towards the moon. The spacecraft was directed to the LTT through a single six-minute-long burn of the Saturn rockets third stage, akin to a slingshot effect.
This direct path allowed the NASA's Apollo missions to reach the lunar surfaces relatively quickely, with in a few days.
Russia's Luna-25 would also follow a somewhat similar approach.
while ISRO used a multi step approach in Chandryan and Mangalyaan missions requires more time but allows for the use of relatively less powerful laumch vehicles.
Cleaver Use Of Gravity
ISRO has used Earth and Moon's gravity to workaround the constraints.
While orbiting the Earth in an elliptical orbit, a spacecraft is at its highest speed when it passes through the point is called the perigee.
Exactly opposiye to this point in the orbit is the apogee, where the spacecraft is the furthest from the earth and at its slowest speed.
# If the luna-25 mission succesfully lands on 21 August it would beat Chandryan-3 in the race to land near the lunar south pole.
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