The Luna-25 mission will seek to land near the south pole of the moon, collecting geological samples from the area, and sending back data for signs of water or its building blocks, which could raise the possibility of a future human colony on the moon.
The vast majority of the time, I’m in favor of science. Under Russia’s current conditions, though, it’s just stupid. It’s nothing but an ego boost for Putin.
I mean, on the bright side, there are worse ways they could have spent the money. But yeah, I’m not exactly praying for a stunning success for them.
would you rather the resources be funneled into the millitary? also this had been planned years before the invasion
You know, that occurred to me hours after posting. Most of the money had already been spent before the war even started. It would be even dumber to just let it sit in a hangar and fall apart, like that knockoff space shuttle that they made.
There’s been a nasty string of landers crashing into the moon lately. This one should end that streak, but…
Good. The money they spend on that won’t be spent on war crimes.
Oh lets all land on the fuckin moon at once
Exploring the moon is making a comeback, baby!
That would be awesome, less proxy wars more space exploration.
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Vitaly Egorov, a blogger who writes extensively on space exploration, said: “Now 12 years later they’re launching Luna-25 and the main intrigue is whether or not it will succeed in reaching [the moon] or not, and if it does, can it actually land there?
“The question of prestige always plays a role in interplanetary research, in China and the United States as well, that’s why the Russian government gave money to this exploration,” said Egorov.
Only the Soviet Union, China and the US have previously managed to land probes on the moon, and marks an unlikely confluence of missions that almost indicates a new race.
Tougher sanctions since 2022 will likely increase shortages for years to come, meaning that even if Russia is successful this time, it may not be able to repeat that mission or launch further probes without manufacturing its own alternatives.
Officials said they would evacuate residents of Shakhtinsky, a small village in the far east, on the very unlikely chance that a rocket stage could come crashing down on their homes.
He said: “Luna-25 is possible to show that Russia and the Russian space programme and its specialists can have some positive influence and enrich international science and not just play at militarisation and fulfil the wishes of the ministry of defence.”
