Today, Sunday, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said that the Russian robotic lander Luna-25 crashed on the surface of the moon, after it orbited out of control.
A statement issued by the agency read: “The device moved in an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of its collision with the surface of the moon.”
Roscosmos said it lost contact with the spacecraft on Saturday after it experienced problems preparing for orbit before landing after a reported crash. An abnormal situation “Which its specialists were analyzing. During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed by the established parameters,” the agency said in a post on Telegram.
The spacecraft was scheduled to land on the moon’s south pole on Monday. the Lunar South Pole Of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain water frozen in rock that future explorers could turn into air and fuel for rockets.
The Russian lunar probe was racing to land on Earth’s satellite in front of an Indian spacecraft, It was launched on July 14th. Both were expected to reach the Moon between August 21 and 23.
Only three governments have succeeded in landing on the moon: the Soviet Union, the United States and China, but not on the south pole of the moon. India and Russia are racing to be the first two countries to land there.
for precedent Indian attempt to land At the lunar south pole in 2019, it ended when the rover crashed into the lunar surface.
Roskosmos said it wanted to show that Russia is “a country capable of delivering payloads to the Moon,” and “to ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the lunar surface.”
Sanctions imposed on Russia since it began its actions in Ukraine make it difficult for the country to access Western technology, affecting its space program. Luna-25 was initially supposed to carry a small lunar rover, analysts said, but that idea was abandoned to reduce the vehicle’s weight to improve reliability.
Luna-25 launched from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on August 10. Pet project Russian President Vladimir Putin and the key to his efforts to make Russia a superpower in space.
Launch earlier this month It was the first for Russia since 1976 When it was part of the Soviet Union.
