Moscow, Russia. The Luna-25 probe, Russia’s first mission to the Moon in nearly 50 years, crashed into Earth’s satellite after an incident, spelling a fiasco for a Russian space program plagued by corruption and a lack of innovation.
Luna-25, the first probe launched by Russia to the Moon since 1976, crashed into the lunar surface after a problem occurred on Saturday during a maneuver prior to its landing, the Roscosmos space agency announced on Sunday.
After “the impulse to form its elliptical pre-moon landing orbit”, on Saturday “around 2:57 p.m. [11H57 GMT]communication with Luna-25 was interrupted,” the Russian agency explained in a statement.
“The measures taken on August 19 and 20 to search for the device and make contact with it did not work,” he acknowledged.
“According to the preliminary results” of the investigation, the device “ceased to exist after a collision on the lunar surface,” he added.
This accident comes at a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to continue his country’s space program despite funding problems, corruption scandals and the conflict in Ukraine that have made collaboration with other agencies difficult.
Roscosmos indicated that “an inter-ministerial commission” will be in charge of finding out “the reasons” for the incident that caused “the loss” of Luna-25.
The Russian agency did not give further details about the circumstances of the incident, although it hinted that the probe, weighing almost 800 kilos, suffered a serious accident.
numerous difficulties
The Luna-25 mission, intended to give a new impetus to the Russian space sector, was considered “risky”, as the head of Roscosmos himself, Yuri Borisov, had previously admitted.
Faced with Vladimir Putin, last June, Borisov declared that “the chances of success of these missions are estimated at 70%.”
Luna-25 was put into lunar orbit on Wednesday, having lifted off in the early hours of August 11 from the Russian Far East.
In principle, it was supposed to land on Monday at the south pole of the Earth’s satellite, which would have been a first.
His mission to the Moon, which was to last a year, was to collect samples and analyze the soil for “long-term scientific research.”
The launch of the Luna-25 lander is Russia’s first mission to the moon since 1976, an era when the former Soviet Union was at the forefront of space conquest.
But since the fall of the USSR, Moscow has faced numerous difficulties such as lack of financing, corruption scandals and insufficient technological innovation.
After the start of the Russian military offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, the European Space Agency (ESA) stopped collaborating with Moscow in the launch of Luna-25 and future missions 26 and 27.
The space race has intensified in recent years with the new ambitions of China and South Korea that aspire to rival the United States and the growing weight of the private sector.
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