India and Russia are sending landers to spots near the south pole, which has water ice that might one day be mined to make rocket fuel.
The Luna-25 mission took off in August from a launch pad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East.Russia is no stranger to the moon, according to Anatoly Zak, the publisher of. When it was part of the Soviet Union, it made more than a dozen trips to the moon.
Because it's a proven design, it should work pretty well. On the other hand, everyone who designed it and flew the old Luna missions nearly a half-century ago have since retired. Zak isn't really sure if they'll be able to stick the landing.AFP via Getty Images "The moon is kind of a unique challenge because it has no atmosphere," says Jason Davis, an editor with theThe lack of atmosphere means there's no way to slow down using a parachute. Instead, spacecraft must rely on thrusters to break their fall at just the right moment.
The Indian Space Research Organization knows this all too well. In 2019, it tried to land on the moon as part of its Chandrayaan-2 mission. But when the engines on the lander performed in an unexpected way,"the spacecraft did not know where it was, and crashed," Davis says.
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