Russia's Luna-25 experienced a crash landing on the moon.
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Russia's Luna-25, its first lunar mission in decades, experienced a dramatic failure,
as its spacecraft crashed onto the moon's surface just 10 days after launch. The incident dealt a significant setback to Russia's aspirations in space, occurring after communication with the robotic craft was abruptly severed.
Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, reported that contact with Luna-25 was lost on Saturday at approximately 2:57 p.m. Moscow time. Despite efforts made on August 19 and 20 to locate and establish contact with the craft, no positive outcomes were achieved.
According to an initial assessment by Roscosmos, Luna-25 veered into an unintended orbit prior to the collision. The exact cause of the crash remains uncertain, prompting the formation of a dedicated commission to investigate the incident.
This news follows closely after the spacecraft had reported an "emergency situation" while attempting to enter a designated pre-landing orbit, as communicated by Roscosmos via a Telegram post on Saturday. This operation encountered an unforeseen problem on the automatic station, preventing the intended maneuver from being executed with the planned parameters.
Luna-25 was poised to accomplish Russia's first successful lunar landing mission in nearly five decades, since Luna 24 made its touchdown on August 18, 1976. The probe had launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Amur Oblast on August 10, embarking on a swift trajectory towards the moon.
Its trajectory had propelled Luna-25 ahead of India's Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander, which had launched in mid-July and was also headed for the moon's southern polar region. This area holds great intrigue due to its underexplored nature and potential reservoirs of water ice hidden in shadowy craters.
However, the perception of a race between India and Russia for the lunar south pole was nuanced. Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell from the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, clarified that both projects had been in development for more than a decade, rendering the notion of a last-minute competition inaccurate.
Originally, Roscosmos and the European Space Agency had planned a collaborative effort on projects including Luna 25, Luna 26, Luna 27, and the ExoMars rover. However, this partnership ceased following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in April 2022, leading the ESA Council to terminate cooperative activities with Russia.
Luna-25 carried eight scientific instruments, including specialized spectrometers designed to study lunar soil and detect surface water. In contrast, India's Chandrayaan-3 possessed a lander, propulsion module, and rover, providing a more versatile exploration capability that Russia lacked.
Chandrayaan-3's landed successfully on south pole of moon, the first ever country to do so., scheduled for Wednesday, August 23, holds the potential to mark India's first successful lunar touchdown, following the failure of Chandrayaan-2's landing in September 2019.