In my view, the mission was much less a scientific one than a political one. The target was the lunar south pole, a previously unexplored area. The mission was scaled back from including a lunar rover because of Western sanctions after Putin's War in Ukraine began. It is speculated that it went ahead to prove to the world that sanctions would not affect Russia's ability to lead the world. The landing coinciding with BRICS would also be a political thumb in the eye of the West over the ICC kerfuffle, and it would bolster Russia's image in that group, particularly by one-upping India by two days. This is not just an egg in the face. This is Putin being held down and letting the henhouse drop their product on him.

I still expect to see the Russians taking a page of Irish history and using the Red Hand of the O'Neills rule to claim it arrived first at the south pole area of the moon.