According to RT , the head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency, Mr. Yury Borisov, said the Luna-25 probe did not turn off its engine in time and deviated from its planned orbit.
“Unfortunately, the engine shutdown was not planned in a sequential manner, but was timed. Instead of the planned 84 seconds, the process took 127 seconds,” Borisov told Rossiya 24 television on August 21.
A photo taken from the camera of the Luna-25 spacecraft.
On August 20, Roscosmos said that Russia's Luna-25 automatic interplanetary station collided with the moon instead of landing as planned. The spacecraft received signals to form an elliptical orbit before landing, but lost contact at 2:57 p.m. Moscow time. Efforts to locate the spacecraft and restore contact were unsuccessful.
A committee representing the agencies was assembled to determine the cause of the probe's failure.
Luna-25 was launched on August 11 aboard a Soyuz 2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur Region of Russia's Far East. It is the first probe sent to the Moon by Russia since the Soviet era.
This mission aims to land the spacecraft near the Moon's south pole, known for its difficult terrain.
The spacecraft entered lunar orbit early last week and sent back high-resolution images of the far side of the Moon. The spacecraft is scheduled to land on August 21, to examine lunar soil for ice, test soft-landing technology, and conduct long-term research on the Moon’s outer layer.
Phuong Anh (Source: RT)
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