A picture taken from the camera of the lunar landing spacecraft Luna-25 during its flight to the moon shows the mission emblem and the bucket of the lunar manipulator complex on August 15, 2023. Photo: Roscosmos via Reuters

Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, the country’s Roscosmos space agency said on August 20.

The pilotless spacecraft was aiming to be the first ever to land on the south pole of the Moon, an area where scientists believe there could be important reserves of frozen water and precious elements. It had been expected to land on August 21.

However, Roscosmos said it lost contact with the Luna-25 on August 19 after the spacecraft ran into difficulties and reported an “abnormal situation”.

“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” read a statement from the agency.

Alongside Luna 25, India’s Chandrayaan-3,launched on July 14, is hoping to land in the south pole area as well. Its powered descent is expected to begin at 5.45 pm IST on August 23

The lunar mission was Russia’s first since 1976, when it was part of the Soviet Union. Only three governments have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.

The lunar south pole is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain frozen water in the rocks that future explorers could transform into air and rocket fuel.

A previous Indian attempt to land at the south pole in 2019 ended when the spacecraft crashed into the moon’s surface.

Roscosmos said it wanted to show Russia “is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon,” and “ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the moon’s surface”.

Sanctions imposed on Russia since it began its actions in Ukraine have affected its space programme, making it more difficult to access Western technology.

The Luna-25 was initially meant to carry a small moon rover but that idea was abandoned to reduce the weight of the craft for improved reliability, analysts said.

The craft launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East on August 10. The spaceport is a pet project of Russian President Vladimir Putin and key to his efforts to make Russia a space superpower.

A picture taken from the camera of the lunar landing spacecraft Luna-25 shows the Zeeman crater located on the far side of the moon, on August 17, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

An “abnormal situation” occurred at Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft on August 20 as it was preparing to transfer to its pre-landing orbit, Russia’s national space agency Roskosmos said.

The Russian spacecraft is scheduled to land on the south pole of the moon on August 22, part of a big power race to explore a part of the moon which scientists think may hold frozen water and precious elements.

“During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the manoeuvre to be performed with the specified parameters,” Roskosmos said in a short statement.

Specialists are analysing the situation, it said, without providing further details.

Earlier, Roskosmos said it had received the first results from the Luna-25 mission and that they were being analysed.

The agency also posted images of the moon’s Zeeman crater taken from the spacecraft. The crater is the third deepest in the moon’s southern hemisphere, it said, measuring 190 km (118 miles) in diameter and eight km (five miles) in depth.

Roskosmos said data it had received so far had provided information about the chemical elements in the lunar soil and would also facilitate the operation of devices designed to study the near-surface of the moon.

It added that its equipment had registered “the event of a micrometeorite impact”.

The Luna-25 entered the moon’s orbit on August 16 , the first Russian spacecraft to do so since 1976.

Roughly the size of a small car, it will aim to operate for a year on the South Pole, where scientists at NASA and other space agencies in recent years have detected traces of frozen water in the craters.

The presence of water has implications for major space powers, potentially allowing longer human sojourns on the moon that would enable the mining of lunar resources.