RT quoted an announcement from Roscosmos on August 20, Moscow time, confirming that the Luna-25 spacecraft crashed onto the surface of the Moon after losing control while preparing for landing.
“According to preliminary analysis, the Luna-25 spacecraft moved to an undesignated orbit and stopped functioning after colliding with the lunar surface,” Roscosmos said in a statement.
Image sent back from Luna-25 during its flight to the Moon. (Photo: Roscosmos)
Roscosmos further explained that, while controlling Luna-25 to enter orbit to prepare for landing, at 14:10 on August 19, Moscow time, the ship suddenly encountered an emergency situation that prevented it from performing operations according to the parameters controlled by the ground station.
Roscosmos then attempted to reestablish contact with Luna-25 on August 19 and 20, but failed.
The Russian federal space agency said a relevant commission with representatives of several agencies will be established to determine the reasons for the failure of the Luna-25 mission.
Luna 25 launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Amur Oblast on a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket on August 10, beginning its fast-track journey to the Moon. Luna 25's trajectory will allow it to overtake India's Chandrayaan-3 lander, which launched in mid-July. Media reports that Russia and India are racing to reach the Moon's south pole are inaccurate, as the two projects have been in development for more than a decade, according to Jonathan McDowell, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Landing a spacecraft safely on the Moon would be a huge step forward for the Russian space program. Luna 25 will also lay the groundwork for future robotic lunar exploration missions by Roscosmos. Some Luna missions will use the same spacecraft design.
Luna 25 carries eight different scientific instruments. If it can be reactivated after the accident, Luna-25 will use those instruments to search for water ice and explore the lunar polar regions, which have never had a lander or rover before.
Tra Khanh (Source: russian.rt.com)
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