In the last few days, in the aerospace field, there has been talk of the accident that occurred at the Russian space mission Luna-25a mission that was part of the Luna-Glob program, conceived as a continuation of the 1970s Luna program of the Soviet Union. The Luna-Glob program envisaged the launch of several automatic probes to explore the surface and orbit of the Moon, with particular attention to the South Pole region, where it is assumed that there is the presence of water ice.
Luna-25 was the program’s first lander, and had as its main objective to test the landing technology and some scientific instruments for future missions. the probe, weighed 1750 kg and carried 30kg of toolsincluding a robotic arm for taking samples from the ground, an active neutron and gamma ray analyzer for studying the composition of regolith, a laser mass spectrometer for measuring plasma in the exosphere, an infrared spectrometer for analyzing minerals and micrometeorites, a thermometer for measuring the thermal properties of regolith, a camera for taking panoramic and local images, a laser retroreflector for lunar libration and distance experiments, and an energy and science data support system.
The Luna-25 probe was launched last August 10, 2023 at 23:10 UTC from the Vostochnyj cosmodrome, in Russia, with a Soyuz 2.1b carrier rocket; after traveling for about six days in cis-lunar space, the spacecraft entered lunar orbit on August 16, 2023 at 12:03 Moscow time, thanks to two engine starts, with the initial orbit having an apolunion of 500 km it’s a perilunium of 100 kmwith an inclination of 90 degrees to the lunar equator.
The probe of the Luna-25 mission should have remained in orbit for about five days, during which it would have had to carry out maneuvers to progressively reduce the perilunium until it reached an altitude of about 15 km above the lunar South Pole, with the intended landing site which was one flat area near the Boguslawsky craterwhere it was believed there was a greater probability of finding frozen water, with the probe that was due to land on August 21, 2023 at 11:00 Moscow timea, using an optical and radar navigation system to avoid obstacles.
However, the mission didn’t go as planned. During the fourth orbital maneuver, which took place on August 19, 2023 at 11:57 UTC, there was an unexpected increase in the impulse of the spacecraft’s engines, which caused a deviation from the planned trajectory and a loss of control. The probe of Luna-25 is then crashed into the lunar surface at a speed of about 500 m/screating a new crater about 10 meters in diameterwith the impact having been recorded by some ground-based telescopes and other probes in lunar orbit, as can be seen from the photos below.
The reaction to the failure of the Luna-25 mission and future plans
The Russian space agency Roscosmos announced the incident in his Telegram profile, expressing regret for the failure of the Luna-25 mission and thanking everyone who had worked on the project. Roscosmos also declared that it would investigate the causes of the accident and that it would try again to get to the Moon with the next missions of the Luna-Glob program, with the director general of the agency, Dmitry Rogozinwho claimed that “Russia would not give up on its space dream and would continue to develop its lunar technology”.
The Luna-25 mission was Russia’s first space mission since 1976when the Soviet Union still existed, and to this day, only four countries have managed to land on the moon successfully: the Soviet Union, the United States, China and recently India with the mission CHANDRAYAAN-3. The Russian mission had aroused great interest and expectations, both in the scientific and political fields, but unfortunately it ended in disappointment, however the Luna-25 mission also demonstrated Russia’s willingness and ability to resume its leading role in the space exploration, and has provided valuable information for future lunar missions.
The Luna-25 mission had been preceded by a series of tests and simulations to verify the functionality of the probe and the landing system, and between 2015 and 2018, the probe was subjected to various thermal, vibrational, acoustic, electromagnetic and of compatibility. In 2019, the probe was transferred to the Vostočnyj cosmodrome for final checks and integration with the carrier rocket, while in 2020, the probe was subjected to a landing simulation in a special laboratory, where the lunar gravity was reproduced and the morphology of the land.
The simulation was a success and confirmed the probe’s readiness for the Luna-25 mission.
The Luna-Glob program also includes other missions in addition to Luna-25, 6 to be precise. The second mission, Luna-26, will be an orbiter that will map the magnetic field and topography of the Moon, as well as provide communications with future spacecraft, and its launch is scheduled for 2027 with an Angara A5 rocket.
The third mission, Luna-27, will be a lander that will land near the Amundsen crater in the lunar South Pole and will conduct geological, geophysical and astrobiological experiments, and in this case the launch is scheduled for 2028 with a Soyuz 2.1b rocket. The fourth mission, Luna-28, will be a sample return mission that will harvest approximately one kilogram of regolith from the lunar South Pole and return it to Earth, and the launch is scheduled for 2030 with an Angara A5 rocket.
The fifth mission, Luna-29, will be a rover that will explore the lunar South Pole in collaboration with Luna-27 and Luna-28, its launch is scheduled for 2031 with a Soyuz 2.1b rocket, while the subsequent missions, Luna -30 and Luna-31, will be landers that will land in other regions of the Moon and conduct various scientific experiments, the launch of which is scheduled for 2032 and 2033 with Soyuz 2.1b rockets.
The Luna-Glob program also has an international dimensionas it provides for collaboration with other space agencies for the exchange of data and scientific instruments, in particular, the Luna-27 mission will have on board a drill supplied by the European Space Agency (ESA), which will be used to drill the lunar soil up to two meters deep and to transfer the samples to the Russian analytical module, moreover the mission will have on board a thermal spectrometer supplied by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), which will be used to measure the thermal properties of the lunar soil and to detect any traces of ice or organic compounds.
Finally, the mission will have on board a laser retroreflector supplied by NASA, which will be used to accurately measure the distance between the Earth and the Moon and to study variations in the lunar orbit.
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