The Luna-25 probe, Russia's first lunar mission in almost 50 years, crashed into Earth's natural satellite after an unspecified incident during pre-landing manoeuvres, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Sunday.

Almost a year and a half after Russia's attack on Ukraine, the accident has left Moscow isolated with punitive sanctions affecting its space industry.

The failed mission took place at a time when numerous companies and nations are engaged in the race to the Moon and has shed light on the problems of the Russian space sector, ranging from corruption to a lack of innovation and partnership.

Roscosmos said communications with Luna-25 were lost at 14:57 p.m. (1157 GMT) on Saturday.

According to preliminary findings, the lander "ceased to exist following the collision with the lunar surface". "Measures taken on 19 and 20 August to locate and contact the vehicle were unsuccessful," the space agency added.

While the agency said a ministerial investigation into the causes of the accident would be opened, it did not provide any information on what technical problems may have occurred.

With Luna-25, Moscow hoped to build on the legacy of the Soviet-era Luna programme, marking a return to independent lunar exploration in the face of the programme's financial woes and corruption scandals, and increasing isolation from the West.

Valery Yegorov, a former researcher in Russia's space programme who now lives in exile, said the accident would seriously affect Roscosmos' future missions and that the next mission was not planned until 2028 or "later".

He suggested that the probe's failure was linked to electronic problems, possibly caused by Western sanctions against Moscow.

Yegorov said the launch of Luna-25 had been postponed several times over the past five years "due to sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the seizure of Crimea".

"Science, basic research, space colonisation and some kind of humanistic ideas of revealing the secrets of the universe are clearly not a priority at the moment," Yegorov said, condemning the Kremlin's attack on Ukraine.

The 800-kilogram (1,760-pound) Luna-25 probe was due to make a soft landing on the moon's south pole on Monday, a historic first.

Russia has not attempted to land on a celestial body since 1989, when the Phobos 2 probe sent by the Soviet Union to explore the moons of Mars failed due to computer failure.

Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov said the attempt would be "risky" and told President Vladimir Putin in June that the probability of success was "around 70 per cent".

Luna-25 was successfully placed into lunar orbit after launching from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's Far East on Wednesday.

But on Saturday, Roscosmos said an "emergency situation" was detected during a manoeuvre the probe performed before landing, preventing the operation from being carried out.

Luna-25 was expected to stay on the Moon for a year, collecting soil samples and searching for water - a substance that enthusiasts hoped could be used to make rocket fuel for future launches and to support potential colonies living there.

Cameras mounted on the lander had already taken photographs of the lunar surface. Following the military action in Ukraine, doubts were raised about Russia's long-standing space co-operation with the West.

Russia announced that it would use the International Space Station until 2028, while the European Space Agency (ESA) abandoned plans to co-operate with Moscow on missions to the Moon and Mars.

Moscow had last landed a probe on the Moon in 1976 (Luna-24), and then moved away from lunar exploration in favour of missions to Venus and the construction of the Mir space station.

The successful landing of Luna-25 would pave the way for more Russian missions to the Moon at a time when India and China are launching their own probes and the US is returning to manned missions.

India's rival space probe Chandrayaan-3 also entered lunar orbit in early August with the aim of landing at the south pole. Only Russia, the United States and China have previously achieved a controlled landing on the Moon.

 

Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/