Luna-25 crashes into moon; Russia’s lunar mission ends

A day after developing technical difficulties, Russia's Luna-25 probe has crashed into the Moon, informedRussia's space agency Roscosmos on Sunday (August 20). The Luna-25 probe was the first Russian Moon mission in nearly 50 years.

Roscosmos said the probe crashed into the lunar surface after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit. The agency added there hadbeenan "abnormal situation" during a manoeuvre earlier.

What happened to the probe?

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Preliminary investigations showed that the lander "hasceased to exist following a collision with the Moon's surface". The scientists at the agency have started a probe to determine the cause of the crash.

"During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the manoeuvre to be performed with the specified parameters," Roscosmos wrote in an update on Telegram.

"The management team is currently analysing the situation."

The lunar probe was expected to remain on the lunar surface for an entire year to perform critical scientific tasks ofcollecting samples and conducting soil analysis. The lander had as many as eight different science instruments on it.However, given the inherent risks associated with lunar landings, it was always going to be a tough task to execute the perfect soft landing.

Notably, on Saturday (August 19),Roscosmos reported that an "emergency" situation arose during a manoeuvre executed by the probe. The unforeseen event occurred during a crucial thrust operation aimed at transferring the probe onto its pre-landing orbit. The agency added that communication with Luna-25 was lost at 2:57 pm (1157 GMT) on the same day.

When was the probe launched?

Luna-25 was launched on August 10 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, inRussia's Far East region and reached the lunar orbit six days later.The probe was due to touch down near the lunar South Pole on Monday (August 20).

After the crash, Russian social media platforms are rife with speculations as userscame up with their own theories regarding the crash. Notably,Roscosmos had initially cooperated withthe European Space Agency (ESA) on thelunar programme. However, after President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine, ESA pulled out of the project and ditched Moscow.

Also watch |Chandrayaan-3: India's Lunar lander Vikram inches closer to Moon

After Luna's demise, all eyes have turned to India's Chandrayaan-3 mission, whose Vikram lander is expected to land close to Luna's landing site on Wednesday (August 23) at 18:03 hours Indian Standard Time (IST).

(With inputs from agencies)

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