2023-08-19 18:43:21
Last Updated Saturday, 19 August 2023 – 18:43
The probe, which departed on August 11 from the Vostochni cosmodrome in the Russian Far East, entered orbit this Wednesday, after five days and almost ten hours of travel.
Russian Luna-25 launch of the Vostochni cosmodrome probe.AFP
The Russian probe Luna-25, whose mission is to be the first spacecraft to land on the South Pole of the Earth’s satellite, failed to enter the required orbit to land this Monday on the lunar surface, as reported today by the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.
“During the operation at the automatic station, an emergency situation occurred that prevented the maneuver from being carried out according to the planned parameters,” said a Roscomos statement on Telegram.
The problems aboard the ship arose when at 2:10 p.m. Moscow time (11:10 GMT) the engines propelled Luna-25 into its pre-moon landing orbit.
“At the moment the specialists of the control group are analyzing the situation,” adds the official note.
The probe, which left on August 11 from the Cosmodrome Vostochnyin the Russian Far East, entered orbit this Wednesday, after five days and almost ten hours of travel.
At all times, Roscosmos reported that the ship’s systems were operating normally and, in fact, sent images of the lunar surface to Earth and detected the impact of a micrometeorite, among other phenomena.
The probe was due to land on the Moon’s surface on August 21, that is, two days before the Indian probe Chandrayaan-3, which was launched on July 14.
Luna-25, successor to the Soviet Luna-24, the third spacecraft to collect samples from the lunar surface in August 1976, hopes to find water in the form of ice on Earth’s satellite.
A Soviet ship, Luna-2, was already the first to land on said satellite in 1959, a feat that the US emulated years later with its Ranger program.
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