Moscow: Russia's lunar hopes shattered Sunday as the Luna-25 probe, the country's first Moon mission in nearly half a century, crashed on the lunar surface during pre-landing manoeuvres.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos confirmed the Luna-25 crash into Moon.
As per Roscosmos, communication with Luna-25 was abruptly lost at 2:57 pm (11:57 GMT), leaving a trail of uncertainty.
The space agency shared preliminary findings indicating that "the apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon."
"Thrust was released to transfer the probe onto the pre-landing orbit," Roscosmos said in a statement sharing details. "During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the carrying out of the manoeuvre within the specified conditions”, it said.
"Thrust was released to transfer the probe onto the pre-landing orbit," Roscosmos said in a statement sharing details.
"During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the carrying out of the manoeuvre within the specified conditions”, it said.
Russia’s Luna-25 Moon mission on the other hand was launched on August 11, 2023 aboard a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far-eastern Amur Region.
A commission involving representatives of several agencies will be assembled to establish the reasons for the loss of the probe, Roscosmos said.
Luna-25 was in race with India’s Chandrayaan-3 for landing on Moon’s South Pole – the little explored area where no country has reached so far.
Luna-25 due to land on Moon’s South Pole on August 21 – two days before India’s Chandrayaan-3. It however crashed into Moon ending Russia’s Moon mission the country’s first in 47 years, and also the first built entirely from domestic components.
“According to the results of a preliminary analysis… the Luna-25 spacecraft switched to a non-designated orbit and ceased to operate due to a collision with the surface of the Moon,” Roscosmos said on Sunday.
The spacecraft reached lunar orbit earlier this week, sending back high-resolution photos of the dark side of the Moon. Its landing was scheduled to take place on or around August 21.
The main goal of the mission was to examine the lunar soil for the presence of ice, with Roscosmos also saying it wanted to test soft-landing technology and conduct long-term research on the lunar exosphere and the upper layer of the south pole’s surface.
Meanwhile, India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, has successfully performed its final maneuver before it can land on the Moon. The mission's lander module successfully executed a second deboosting, in which its orbit was modified on Saturday.
The visuals of the moon from Chandrayaan - 3 are simply Stunning!Can't keep Calm, Save the date! Landing on South Pole of the Moon just 3 days away - 23rd Aug 1745pm Indian time.Also Praying for recovery of Russia's Luna 25! #Chandrayaan_3 #Luna25 pic.twitter.com/GmCRE51Lqd— Vishal Verma (@VishalVerma_9) August 20, 2023
The visuals of the moon from Chandrayaan - 3 are simply Stunning!Can't keep Calm, Save the date! Landing on South Pole of the Moon just 3 days away - 23rd Aug 1745pm Indian time.Also Praying for recovery of Russia's Luna 25! #Chandrayaan_3 #Luna25 pic.twitter.com/GmCRE51Lqd
The lander module, comprising the lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan, will be prepared to touch down on the lunar south pole on Wednesday August 23, 2023 at 17:45 India Time (IST), ISRO said.
This brings India closer to become the fourth country, after the USSR, the US and China, to successfully land a vehicle on the Moon.
"Chandrayaan-3 Mission: The Lander Module (LM) health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs. IST", ISRO said.
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