It is reported that the Russian lunar probe 'Luna 25' for the first time in 47 years collided with the moon and failed to land



On August 20, 2023,

Roscosmos , the Russian state-owned space agency, announced that the unmanned lunar probe `` Luna 25 '' launched by Russia on August 11, 2023 collided with the moon.

Russia's first lunar mission in 47 years smashes into the moon in failure | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russias-moon-mission-falters-after-problem-entering-pre-landing-orbit-2023-08-20/



Russia's Luna-25 space craft 'ceased to exist' after colliding with the Moon. - The Verge

https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/20/23839240/russias-luna-25-space-craft-ceased-to-exist-after-colliding-with-the-moon



Russia says its Luna-25 lunar lander has crashed into the moon | Space

https://www.space.com/russia-says-luna-25-crashes-into-moon

Luna 25 was the first Russian lunar probe since Luna 24 launched in 1976 during the Soviet Union era. Launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on August 11, 2023 Japan Standard Time on a Soyuz 2.1b , Luna 25's main purpose is to collect lunar soil samples using onboard mass spectrometers, cameras, robotic arms, etc. and compositional analysis.



Luna 25 was put into lunar orbit on August 16, 2023, and on the following day, on the 17th, it succeeded in photographing the crater 'Zeman' on the far side of the moon using the on-board camera.



After that, Luna 25 is scheduled to land on the moon's 'Boguslavsky Crater' on August 21, 2023, and from 20:10 on August 19, 2023, Roscosmos will enter orbit before landing on the moon. Execute engine injection for transition. However, Roscosmos announced that ``a problem occurred during the operation and the operation could not be performed successfully,'' and ``we are currently analyzing the situation.'' Furthermore, at 20:57 on August 19, 2023, Roscosmos revealed that communication from Luna 25 was lost.



As a result of preliminary analysis by Roscosmos, the values of the parameters of the executed engine injection deviated from the calculated values, resulting in an unplanned orbital transition, causing Luna 25 to collide with the lunar surface and disappear. reported to be possible.



Russian astronomer Mikhail Marov said, ``It is very unfortunate that Luna 25 failed to land.I hope that the cause of the crash will be rigorously investigated.'' , was the last chance to confirm the revival of Russia's lunar exploration program.'

'We were reminded that landing on any celestial body is not easy,' said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's former science director. It does not guarantee success.'




In response to the landing failure of Luna 25 this time, Roscosmos has announced that 'we will establish a special interdepartmental committee and clarify the reason for Luna 25's lunar collision.'

in Science, Posted by log1r_ut