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Luna-25, Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years, crashed on the lunar surface. Russia's space agency shared the update on August 20, 2023. The news comes a day after contact with the spacecraft was lost. It was an unmanned craft.
Russia's state space corporation, Roscosmos, also revealed that the crash happened due to some problems inside the spacecraft. They said that the "apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon."
The agency's statement on Telegram stated that the spacecraft was supposed to "issue an impulse to form its pre-landing elliptical orbit" on August 19. At 2:10 pm, there was no contact with the spacecraft, and although search attempts were made, they could not find anything.
Luna-25 was expected to arrive at the moon's south pole because experts believed it to be a source of frozen water, which can prove useful for the astronauts. The mission was also a test to check the landing technology.
What happened to Luna-25? A timeline of the events explored
Russia made a lot of preparations for the Luna-25 mission over the years. The spacecraft's journey started on August 11, 2023, when the rocket Soyuz 2.1 took off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. On August 16, the spacecraft reached the moon's orbit.
By Saturday, the spacecraft started facing issues, and Roscosmos reported that mission control was attempting to move the spacecraft to a pre-landing orbit. However, they lost contact with the spacecraft the same day. The actual reasons behind the failure are currently under investigation by a special commission.
Russia made another attempt to reach the moon in 1976 with Luna-24. Similar missions were planned several years ago, but they had to be canceled for different reasons. This included the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and ongoing political and economic issues.
The Soviet previously launched two spacecraft in 1984. Titled Vega 1 and Vega 2, they went by Venus and then Halley's comet, helping them to capture some pictures of the comet and to know more about the dust and gas contained in its nucleus.
The launch of the spacecraft became a concern for India, as Chandrayaan-3 was also on the same path. However, the crash of the Russian spacecraft leaves Chandrayaan-3 to become the first spacecraft to land near the lunar south pole of the moon. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to land near the moon's south pole region on August 23.
What's next for Russia after the Luna-25 crash?
Roscosmos has not issued a statement on what they are planning to do with the Luna-25 mission. Even if Russia plans to reactivate the mission, it is expected to take a few more years.
The country is also having issues adding new components to its spacecraft. Several other missions are currently in the lineup, but they are expected to take more time.
