Russian apparatus “Luna-25” entered the lunar orbit

The station is stably captured by the gravitational field of the Moon

Automatic interplanetary station “Luna-25” – in lunar orbit. The beginning of the braking maneuver specialists NPO them. Lavochkin was fired today after 11:00 Moscow time. Having occupied an orbit with a height of 100 kilometers, the station will rotate on it for another five days until it is given a command to descend in a given landing area.

As previously reported by specialists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS), who monitor the work of scientific equipment on Luna-25 day and night, after the launch on August 11, it made two successful adjustments to its trajectory towards the natural satellite of the Earth on 12 and 14 August. On August 13th, they tested the devices (they work properly) and took some photos. Three of the eight on-board cameras of the Service Television System Luna-25 (STS-L equipment) worked well, taking three valuable, one might say, historical shots – views of the Earth and the Moon, as well as a “self-portrait”, on which the manipulator bucket, the flag of Russia, emblems of NPO them. Lavochkin, IKI RAS, Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences. The footage was taken when the device was at a distance of 310 thousand kilometers from the Earth.

However, some readers who follow the latest news from our AMC have questions about the quality of the images – the objects look too small on them.

As experts explained to MK, these photographs were taken by cameras designed to take a panorama after landing on the moon, which means they are designed for other angular dimensions. In addition, specialists transmitted information to Earth from an omnidirectional antenna in a wide range, which did not imply excellent quality. After a successful landing, scientists hope they will tune the antenna to work in a narrower range.

In the meantime, on August 16, specialists from the NPO named after Lavochkin reduced the speed of the device from the second space to the first lunar, that is, from 11.2 km / s to 2 km / s, after which the Moon captured the station in its gravitational field.

The deceleration maneuver is one of the most important operations in the AWS flight sequence; the success of further maneuvers depends on it.