2023-08-20 11:10:25
In its race towards the lunar south pole, the probe sent by Russia called “Luna-25” crashed into the satellite this Saturday, and although the reasons that led to the accident are still unknown, from the Russian agency Roscomos they had already anticipated that the ship had registered impacts of micrometeorites during the storm called Perseids.
The Luna-25 probe was Russia’s first attempt to return to the satellite since 1976, and sought to verify the existence of water and other scientific issues. After “the impulse to form its elliptical pre-moon landing orbit”, on Saturday “around 2:57 p.m. local time, communication with Luna-25 was interrupted,” the Roscosmos agency said in a statement on Sunday.
He then reported that “the measures taken on August 19 and 20 to search for the device and make contact with it did not yield results.” And he added: “According to the preliminary results of the investigation, the device ceased to exist following a collision on the lunar surface.”
In that note, the agency detailed that “The apparatus moved into an unforeseen orbit and ceased its existence as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon.” Moscow lost its communication with the ship following the maneuver and, although it tried to recover it for hours, they finally confirmed the worst outcome.
This was the launch of the first Chinese space mission with a civilian on board
Space mission risks
Amid corruption scandals and the conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will continue Russia’s space program despite funding problems.
Minutes following the takeoff of the space probe, the head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, warned that the Luna-25 mission, aimed at giving a new impetus to the Russian space sector, was considered “risky”.
Russia launched its first mission to the moon in 47 years: it wants to know if there is water
The device, more than a ton and three meters high, sent one of its first images of the moon before the accident last Friday. In them you might see the Zeeman crater, a depression near the south pole on the far side of the satellite.
“The resulting images significantly complement the information currently available regarding this crater,” the Russian Space Research Institute (IKI), responsible for the spacecraft’s scientific instruments, said in a press release.
In the statement they reported that it was “the first image of the hidden side of the Moon was obtained in October 1959 by the Soviet Luna-3 automatic station.”
This is the rocket that Russia will launch to the Moon following 47 years
Faced with Vladimir Putin, last June, Borisov declared that “the chances of success of these missions are estimated at 70%.” Luna-25, which had taken off from the Russian Far East on August 11, reached lunar orbit last Wednesday and was scheduled to land on the moon on Monday.
The last Russian space attempt happened in November 2011 when the Phobos-Grunt probe planned to head towards the moon of Mars. That ship ended up falling to Earth in January following Roscosmos lost connection with the probe shortly following launching it into space.
Only India left
Days before the takeoff of Luna-25, the Asian country sent its competitor called Chandrayaan-3. As reported from India, the maneuvers to fix their lunar orbit from which they would descend to land at the South Pole were successful.
The Indian ship is scheduled to land on the lunar satellite next Wednesday, August 23. Unlike its Russian counterpart, the Chandrayaan-3 probe carries a small mobile robot inside to explore the environment near its landing site.
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