Tag: Lunar Exploration
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Indian Space Research Organization | LVM-3 | Chandrayaan-3
Chandrayaan-3 is India’s third mission to the Moon. It repeats most of the failed Chandrayaan-2 mission, with only a lander and rover. After a controlled descent, the lander will perform a soft landing on the lunar surface at a specified site and deploy the rover. The six-wheeled rover weighs around 20 kg and will operate on solar power. It will move around the landing site, performing lunar surface chemical analysis and relaying data back to Earth through the orbiter. The lander will be collecting data on Moon-quakes, thermal properties of the lunar surface, the density and variation of lunar surface plasma. Altogether, the Chandrayaan-3 mission will collect scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, lunar exosphere and signatures of hydroxyl and water-ice.
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United Launch Alliance | Vulcan VC2S | Peregrine lunar lander, Kuipersat-1 & 2 (Maiden flight)
Maiden flight of ULA’s Vulcan launch vehicle carrying the Peregrine lunar lander developed by Astrobotic Technology. The first two satellites of Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation are onboard this launch as rideshare payloads.
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Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) | Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M | Luna 25
Luna 25 (ex-Luna-Glob) is a planned lunar lander mission by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). It will land near the lunar south pole at the Boguslavsky crater. Its primary mission is for proving out lunar landing technology. The mission will carry 30 kg of scientific instruments, including a robotic arm for soil samples and possible drilling hardware. The lander is planned to remain active for at least one year on the lunar surface.
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SpaceX | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Nova-C IM-1
This is the first flight of Nova-C lander which was developed by Intuitive Machines. This mission is a part of CLPS program and carries various NASA payloads in support of Artemis lunar program, as well as multiple commercial payloads.
