Russia’s first Moon mission in nearly 50 years, the Luna-25 probe, crashed on the lunar surface on Saturday following an incident during pre-landing maneuvers. The Russian space agency Roscosmos said contact with the probe was lost at 2:57 pm Moscow time (11:57 GMT).
The probe was scheduled to land near the south pole of the moon. It carries scientific instruments for studying the surface and atmosphere of the moon. The cause of the accident is still unknown. Roscosmos said it was investigating the incident.
The Moon missions are part of Russia’s effort to return to the Moon after a nearly 50-year hiatus. The Soviet Union was the first country to launch a probe to the Moon in 1959.
The space agency mentioned that the lander “was defunct after a collision with the lunar surface.”
“Measures taken on 19 and 20 August to locate the ship and communicate with it were both unsuccessful,” it added.
The Luna-25 probe failure is a setback for Russia’s Moon program, but it’s not the first time the Moon mission has failed. The United States also experienced a number of failures in its first missions to the Moon.
Without giving any indication of possible technical problems, Roscosmos said a ministerial investigation would be conducted to find out the cause of the crash. Moscow had hoped that Luna-25 would help re-establish Russia as a leading space power by building on the legacy of the Soviet-era Luna program and marking a return to independent lunar exploration.
The cause of Luna-25’s crash is unknown at this time, but it could be due to a technical problem with the probe or with the launch vehicle. Roscosmos has not released any further information about the incident.
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Source: pagasa.edu.vn