According to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, the Luna 25 spacecraft reported an “emergency situation on board.” Roscosmos claims that an event took place while the spacecraft attempted to enter a pre-landing orbit.
Roscosmos explained in a Telegram message that “during the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, preventing the maneuver from being performed with the specified parameters.”
The space agency continued, “The management team is currently assessing the circumstances.” It’s unclear at this time whether the problem will prevent the lunar lander from making an attempt at a touchdown after it was scheduled to land close to the moon’s south pole as soon as Monday.
Since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia has not attempted to land a spacecraft on the moon until the Luna 25 lander mission.
On August 18, 1976, Luna 24, the final lunar lander, touched down there. On August 10, the spacecraft was launched by a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Amur Oblast, beginning a quick journey to the moon.
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Race to the Moon
Due to its trajectory, Luna 25 was able to reach the lunar surface before India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander, which was launched in mid-July.
However, astronomer Jonathan McDowell, a researcher at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and the Smithsonian, disputes media assertions that India and Russia are competing for the lunar south pole. Both of the projects, he noted, have been in development for more than ten years.
A significant advancement for Russia’s space program would be a successful lunar landing.
Additionally, Roscosmos views Luna 25 as a testbed for upcoming robotic lunar exploration missions. The same spacecraft architecture is anticipated to be used for a number of upcoming Luna missions.
By taking part in high-profile, high-stakes missions, Russia is also striving to show the viability of its civil space program, which some experts argue has been beset by issues for many years.
According to Victoria Samson, the director of the Secure World Foundation’s Washington office, “They were having a lot of problems with quality control, corruption, and funding.” The nonprofit organization advocates for the safe, peaceful exploration of space.
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Source: CNN
