Sunday afternoon saw Roscosmos revealing the unfortunate conclusion of the mission as Luna-25 crash-landed on the lunar surface.
Russia’s Luna-25 has experienced a crash on the Moon’s surface, as announced by the country’s space agency on Sunday. This development has now positioned India’s Chandrayaan-3 on a trajectory to potentially become the first spacecraft to successfully land near the lunar south pole.
On Sunday morning, Chandrayaan-3 transitioned into its pre-landing orbit, situated 25 km x 134 km above the lunar surface, as part of its preparation for the planned landing on Wednesday. It is from this orbital position that the spacecraft is slated to commence its descent at approximately 6:04 pm IST on Wednesday, with the touchdown expected around 15 minutes later.
Originally, Luna-25 was scheduled for a soft landing on the Moon’s surface on Monday, August 21, merely two days ahead of Chandrayaan-3‘s anticipated landing. Both missions aimed to touch down within the vicinity of the lunar south pole. However, the Russian spacecraft encountered difficulties on Saturday while attempting to transition into its pre-landing orbit.
On Saturday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos disclosed the occurrence of an “emergency situation” onboard the spacecraft, which hindered the completion of the planned orbit-reduction maneuver. In addition, communication with the spacecraft was lost. The agency is actively engaged in resolving this issue.
Regrettably, on Sunday afternoon, Roscosmos conveyed the disappointing news that Luna-25 had experienced a crash landing on the lunar surface. The mission concluded with a sense of disappointment. “Despite the efforts made on August 19 and 20 to locate and reestablish communication with Luna-25, no positive outcomes were achieved,” stated Roscosmos in an official statement.
The statement indicated that the preliminary analysis revealed that the automated station shifted to an unintended orbit and eventually ceased operation due to a collision with the lunar surface.
Luna-25 represented contemporary Russia’s inaugural lunar mission. The previous Soviet Union’s final lunar venture took place in 1976, culminating in a successful landing by Luna-24. Interestingly, Luna-24 held the distinction of being the last spacecraft to touch down on the Moon until China’s Chang’e-3 achieved this feat 37 years later, in 2013. Subsequently, Chang’e-4 became the sole other spacecraft to successfully land on the lunar surface.
Over the past four years, four nations – India, Israel, Japan, and now Russia – have endeavored to achieve a gentle lunar landing; however, each of these attempts encountered setbacks during the final stages, culminating in crash landings. As Chandrayaan-3 aspires to rectify this record for India this Wednesday, Japan is also poised for another endeavor. The upcoming launch of its SLIM spacecraft later this month reflects Japan’s determined pursuit of lunar success.
