Russia’s launch of the interplanetary automatic station Luna-25 for the landing of the Earth satellite on the South Pole repeats the achievements of the USSR in the 60s of the last century and will certainly not lead to a new space race. This was reported to socialbites.ca by Ivan Moiseev, head of the Space Policy Institute. He noted that the United States was already preparing for a new landing on the moon by the end of the decade.
“There is no mention of any race. Luna-25 is aimed at restoring the technologies that we had only in the mid-60s of the last century, namely the technology of landing on the moon, the possibility of landing on the moon. This is now quietly being done in China. Two days after our station, the Indian station will again land at the South Pole. In general, compared to the Chinese or American lunar programs, the Russian program is practically zero. For nearly 15 years, a powerful laboratory has been flying around the moon – the so-called lunar exploration mission looking for places to land a man on the moon for the second time. And the United States is poised to land on the moon somewhere in the 25th year according to plan. Plans change all the time – 26th, 27th year. That is, this is not a small machine gun, but a person’s descent. And we are only repeating the achievements achieved in 1966, when we made the first soft landing on the moon in the Soviet Union, ”said he.
Moiseev added that the space race “cannot happen” because Russia has “modest plans for the moon” compared to the US and China.
“The description about the race is wrong because the weights of the participants, those engaged in the Moon, are very different. As of now, while the station is flying to the moon, Israeli students are doing the same station. However, they failed to land. The Indians were also unable to land. But landing is difficult. In any case, I’m just saying there can’t be a race here, because Russia has very modest plans for the Moon compared to the large-scale plans of China and the US,” he added.
From the Vostochny cosmodrome on the night of August 11 started Launch the “Soyuz-2.1b” vehicle with the “Fregat” upper stage and the automatic station “Luna-25”. The lunar mission took place after a 47-year hiatus. According to RIA Novosti, the device will stay on the Moon for about a year. The main tasks of the mission are the exploration of resources, including water, and the development of soft landing technology.
In connection with the launch, Tim Marshall, author of the book “The Future of Geography” on space geopolitics declaration Politico, which published that the launch of the station sparked a new space race.
“The space race against the USA is heating up. A successful Russian landing and a productive year of research will be a big step forward in their plans to build a moon base with China by the 2030s. “If they succeed, it will be a huge technological and scientific achievement,” he said.
before in china declarationThat Beijing is not interested in the “space race”.