The multifunctional space relay system (MSRS) "Luch" (operator and operating organization – JSC "Satellite System "Gonets", part of the State Corporation "Roscosmos") has successfully completed the tasks of targeted application during the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the Fregat upper stage and automatic the Luna-25 station.
The start of the launch vehicle was carried out on August 11, 2023 at 02:10 Moscow time from the 1C site of the Vostochny cosmodrome. After the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle left the visibility zone of ground-based surveillance and communications, telemetry information from it was transmitted by means of the Luch MSRS. For these purposes, the Luch-5A and Luch-5B relay spacecraft and a ground-based relay support complex were involved. The information was transmitted using low-speed subscriber relay equipment installed on the Fregat upper stage. MSRS "Luch" carried out data transmission from it before separation from the automatic station "Luna-25" in accordance with the flight program. The total time of participation of MSRS "Luch" in ensuring the launch was about 115 minutes, all the target information was transmitted to the processing center without comments.
The Luna-25 automatic station is being sent to a natural satellite of the Earth for the first time in the modern history of Russia. It will have to work out the soft landing technology, take and analyze the soil and conduct long-term scientific research, including the study of the upper layer of the regolith of the surface near the South Pole of the Moon, as well as the lunar exosphere. In terms of landing, Luna-25 is fundamentally different from its predecessors: Soviet lunar stations landed in the equatorial zone, the new station should make a soft landing in the near-polar region with a difficult terrain.
Photo: Roscosmos State Corporation
