“Russia’s first lunar mission in decades has failed with Luna 25.” collide with the surface of the moon‘” reports CNN.
A blow to Russia’s space ambitions The incident, which came after communication with a robotic spacecraft was cut off, was a blow to Russia’s space ambitions. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said it lost contact with Luna 25 around 2:57 pm Moscow time on Saturday… According to a “preliminary analysis”, Luna 25 was on a “non-designed trajectory” before impact. switched to, ”said Roscosmos. Said. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear… Roscosmos said the news came a day after the spacecraft reported an “emergency” as it was about to enter pre-landing orbit. ..
The spacecraft was intended to complete Russia’s first lunar landing mission in 47 years. The nation’s last lunar lander, Luna 24, landed on the moon on August 18, 1976. Luna 25 was considered a proving ground for future robotic lunar exploration missions by Roscosmos. Several future Luna spacecraft were to use the same design. If successful, Luna 25 could be a major breakthrough and eye-catcher for the country’s private space program, which some experts say has faced challenges for decades. It would have demonstrated that eight missions could still be carried out. “They had a lot of problems with quality control, corruption and funding,” Victoria Samson, director of the Washington office of the Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes the peaceful exploration of space, said in an interview on Friday. said.
The news that Russia was experiencing problems with its spacecraft generated sympathy and reverberations throughout the space community. Former NASA Science Director Thomas Zurbütchen said: social media posts No one in the industry “wants other explorers bad luck…we are reminded that landing on any celestial body is never easy or simple,” he said.
Thanks to longtime Slashdot readers Baron_Yam and TheNameOfNick for sharing the news.
