Last Saturday it cut short the last Russian dream when the Luna-25 probe crashed into the lunar surface. Moscow wanted to show off the medal of being the first to land on the lunar polar cap, something that could not be after India became the first country to land on the moon’s south pole this Wednesday. After a time of promoting cooperation and an attempt at understanding between Russia and the West, space has become one more environment in which the West and Russia compete with each other, with the permission of China and of the India.
One of the key objectives of the failed Luna-25 mission was to study the polar ice caps of the Moon, something that would be key to being able to establish bases with human personnel permanently, since transporting water even the satellite involves a high cost, close to a million dollars for each liter.
Despite the setback, Moscow has in mind to continue being a benchmark in the space field and will do so on its own. Although for now its astronauts are still in the International Space Station, in 2024 they are expected to have left it, and from 2025 they will begin to build their own, following in the wake of the MIR. This was the Soviet space station and was in operation until 2001.
At a time when its power is in question as it cannot defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, it is important for the propaganda and patriotic pride revive the successes of the soviet space race in a whole new era. During this the USSR was the first country in taking a man and a woman into space, in land on another planet, among other feats. Today’s Russia, although it totally distances itself from Soviet ideals, has them as a reference and the Kremlin has them very much in mind.
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Russia already has previous experience of the Soviet era, during which it sent about 24 artifacts to the terrestrial satellite, and it is planned that in the coming years the Luna-26 (in 2027 and vital for future expeditions) and Luna-27 (in 2028) missions will be sent. Both missions have the objective of studying the internal composition of the terrestrial satellite to prepare future missions on the same celestial body. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on the 62nd anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight – on April 12 – the urgency of resuming the lunar program to use it as a platform to explore the solar system.
In addition to its Western rivals the European Space Agency and NASA, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, must also compete with China and India in a reborn space race that has its sights set on the moon and mars, projects in which Moscow does not plan to collaborate with the EU. However, the creation between 2031 and 2035 of a half moon base between Beijing and Moscow is planned.