Russian consultants monitoring their moon-bound unmanned spacecraft Luna-25 have switched on its scientific gear and began processing the primary information.

Russia is aiming to grow to be the primary nation to hold out a delicate touchdown on the lunar south pole - a area thought to carry pockets of water ice.

Space company Roscosmos stated in an announcement on Sunday: "Luna-25 continues its flight to the Earth's natural satellite - all systems of the automatic station are working properly, communication with it is stable, the energy balance is positive.

"The first measurement information on the flight to the moon has been obtained, and the undertaking's scientific staff has begunprocessing it."

On Friday, Moscow launched the mission - its first moon-landing craft in 47 years - and is racing in opposition to India which blasted its lunar lander Chandrayaan-3 into house final month.

Luna-25, which is the scale of a small automobile, took off on board a Soyuz rocket from the Vostochny cosmodrome within the far jap Amur area, over 3,000 miles east of Moscow.

It is anticipated to the touch down on the moon on 21 August.

Its mission is to gather samples of rock and dirt to get an understanding of the atmosphere for a possible base.

The lander plans to function for a 12 months on the south pole, the place scientists at NASA and different house companies have lately detected traces of water ice within the area's shadowed craters.

Rough terrain makes a touchdown there troublesome.

But the prize of discovering water ice may very well be historic - as it could be used for gasoline and oxygen, in addition to for consuming water.

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US astronaut Neil Armstrong discovered fame in 1969 for being the primary individual to stroll on the moon.

But the Soviet Union's Luna-2 mission was the primary spacecraft to achieve the planet's floor in 1959, and the Luna-9 mission in 1966 was the primary to make a delicate touchdown there.

Friday's launch marks Russia's first lunar mission since 1976, when it was a part of the USSR.