The Russian lunar probe transmits its first data before reaching the moon

Russia wants to become the first country to make a soft landing on the moon’s south pole, an area believed to contain water in the form of ice.

Russia kicked off the scientific instruments aboard the lunar lander on Sunday, and scientists began processing its first data, on its way to the moon, Reuters reports.

“Luna-25 continues its journey to the natural satellite of the Earth – all automatic systems of the station are working properly, communication with it is stable, the energy balance is positive,” the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.

And the agency continued, “The first measurements of the trip to the moon were obtained, and the scientific team of the project began to process them.”

The space race has been restarted

The Russian Luna-25 mission is significantly competing with India, which launched the Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander last month, to achieve a soft landing on the south pole of the moon, where in recent years scientists have discovered traces of water in the figure. of ice in shady craters in the area.

A Soyuz rocket carrying the Luna-25 spacecraft lifted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in far eastern Russia on Friday and left Earth’s orbit an hour later. It is expected to land on the moon on August 21.

With this mission, Russia is trying to retain a place in the space race: it is the first probe sent to the moon since 1976. In parallel, the United States and the European Union have been developing the Artemis program for several years, which aims for astronauts to walk on the moon again. In 2025, at the earliest.