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Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into Moon
(www.bbc.co.uk)
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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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Not really a race (media just likes to frame it that way)
Main goal is prospecting for potential base locations, because the poles have the best chances of finding easily accessible water ice.
And yeah, prestige too, because landing from polar orbit is more difficult.
Holy shit - somehow I had either missed or forgotten that they found ice on the moon.
That explains it, thanks!!
Why is it harder to land in the poles? Iโm not doubting you, just curious
Mainly, because the poles are always just barely within line of sight to Earth (and thus line of communications) if at all. So the probe has to either operate autonomously or you have to maintain coms via a relay satellite. Either isn't exactly easy with hardware that must also be radiation-hardened and lightweight. Initiating the deorbit burn should (I am guessing this) be done from the backside or you'll run into even more problems when you overshoot the landing site.
Thanks for sharing. That all makes sense.