Lunar vehicles from India and Russia had established satellites in orbit around the Moon, bringing to four the number of nations currently with lunar orbiters, as the two space programs prepare their respective landing craft ready for the next steps, Al Jazeera reports.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 completed the separation of its lunar lander Wednesday, which is scheduled to reach the Moon’s surface on Wednesday, August 23rd. While the lander conducts experiments on the lunar surface, the orbiting module will stay aloft and collect data about exoplanets and conduct a spectroscopic study of the Earth’s atmosphere.
In its first lunar mission in nearly half a century, Russia’s Luna-25 craft reached lunar orbit Wednesday morning. It will orbit the Moon for five days before attempting a landing on Monday, August 21st. This is an early step in Russia’s plan to establish a Moon base by 2040.
Currently, China has one operational lunar orbiter, while the US has at least five working craft orbiting the Moon, including a joint program with South Korea. With the Artemis program, the US and its international partners intend to land humans on the Moon by 2025.