Russia's Luna-25 mission ends in crash

Russia’s unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft crashed onto the Moon after losing control, officials reported. This marked Russia’s first Moon mission in almost five decades. The spacecraft was meant to make history by landing on the Moon’s south pole, but encountered issues while moving into its pre-landing orbit.

The mission was planned to explore an area of the Moon where scientists believe there could be frozen water and valuable materials. Roscosmos, Russia’s state space agency, stated on Sunday that contact with Luna-25 was lost shortly after 2:57 PM (11:57 GMT) on Saturday.

Initial investigations revealed that the 800kg lander collided with the Moon’s surface and was essentially destroyed. Roscosmos announced that a special committee will investigate the reasons behind the mission’s failure.

This setback is a significant setback for Roscosmos. Over the past years, Russia’s civilian space program has faced challenges due to reduced funding, with more resources being directed towards the military.

Russia was in a competition with India to reach the Moon’s south pole. India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is about to land there soon. It plans to deploy a rover to study rocks and craters, collecting information and pictures to transmit back to Earth.

Certain areas of the Moon’s south pole are always in darkness, which increases the chances of discovering water.

An Isro spokesperson, representing the Indian space agency, called the Luna-25 crash “regrettable”.

“Every space mission is very risky and highly technical. It’s unfortunate that Luna-25 has crashed,” they told the BBC.

Roscosmos had acknowledged that the Luna-25 mission carried risks and the possibility of failure. The spacecraft was launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s far eastern Amur region on August 11. It successfully entered the Moon’s orbit during the week.

The plan was for Luna-25 to achieve a historic soft landing on the Moon’s surface on Monday or Tuesday, just a few days before India’s planned touchdown.

While the US and China have softly landed on the Moon before, no country has ever managed to land on the Moon’s south pole.

Luna-25 marked Russia’s return to lunar exploration since 1976, during the Soviet Union era. In that earlier mission, Luna-24 achieved a successful landing.

Russia’s Luna-25 mission ends in crash

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