Russia launched a rocket to the moon on August 11 that carries the first domestically made probe in modern Russia’s history, the Luna-25 robotic probe.

The rocket is to deliver a landing module for research and exploration in the area of the Moon’s previously unexplored south polar regions near the Boguslavsky crater.

The rocket launch comes amidst Russia’s war in Ukraine and is partly designed as a propaganda stunt to highlight Russia's technological and great power status as one of the few countries in the world to have an active space programme.

The last time Russia was on the moon was when the Luna 24 probe landed on the surface on August 18, 1976. Russia and the Soviet Union have never landed a cosmonaut on the face of the moon. To date the only country to have walked the surface of the moon is the US.

India has also been planning to send the Chandrayaan-3 probe to the moon this month, but it appears Russia has beat them to it.

The Luna-25 probe will study ice formations on the South Pole of the Moon as part of a study into how the Moon was formed, the Moscow Planetarium’s scientific director, Faina Rubleva, told TASS.

"We hope that the mission will shed some light on how the Moon was formed. At present, there are at least two different theories. New data may help to confirm the current prevailing theory. The analysis of ice on the South Pole of the Moon will also allow us to theorise on how water appeared on the surface of the Earth’s natural satellite and whether this process was linked to the emergence of water on the Earth," the scientist said.

One theory has it that the Moon was formed when the Earth collided with another small planet, about the size of the planet Mars, at the early stages around 4.5-5bn years ago when our planet was born. Another version is that the Earth and the Moon were formed as a result of the same process, of rocks spinning in space being pulled into two bodies by their mutual gravitational attraction.

Russian scientists believe the second and less popular theory is the true explanation.

"If the second theory is supported by studying ice on the Moon’s surface, it will be possible to theorise that water appeared on the surface of the Earth and the Moon at approximately the same time," she added.

A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket blasted off from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in the Amur Region in the Russian Far East on August 11 carrying the Luna-25 robotic lunar station and became the first domestic spacecraft in Russia’s modern history to travel to the moon. Previously, Russia used the Soviet-era Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan, but has replaced it with the newly built Vostochny.

The flight to the Moon will take up to 5.5 days. The spacecraft will spend between three and seven days about 100km above the lunar surface before touching down in the previously unexplored Boguslawsky crater. Manzinus and Pentland-A craters have been named as alternative landing sites.

The mission’s key goal will be to polish the soft landing techniques.

The lander is equipped with several cameras, which will make timelapse footage of the landing and an HDR wide-angle image of the moonscape.

Russia intends to send a manned rocket to the moon in 2032-2035 as it restarts its space programme.

A super-heavy Russian rocket with a lifting capacity of 115 tonnes is expected to be launched to the Moon from the Vostochny cosmodrome during the second stage of the lunar program from 2032, the Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation said in July.

Russia also has plans for a manned mission to Mars as part of its revitalised space programme.