Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft suffers technical glitch in pre-landing maneuver

Russia reported an "abnormal situation" Saturday connected its moon-bound Luna-25 spacecraft, which launched earlier this month.

The country's abstraction agency, Roscosmos, said the spacecraft ran into unspecified occupation portion trying to participate a pre-landing orbit, and that its specialists were analyzing the situation.

"During the operation, an abnormal concern occurred connected committee the automatic station, which did not let the maneuver to beryllium performed with the specified parameters," Roscosmos said successful a Telegram post.

Roscosmos did not specify whether the incidental volition forestall Luna-25 from making a landing.

The spacecraft is scheduled to onshore connected the southbound rod of the satellite connected Monday, racing to onshore connected Earth's outer up of an Indian spacecraft. The lunar southbound rod is of peculiar involvement to scientists, who judge the permanently shadowed polar craters whitethorn incorporate water. The frozen h2o successful the rocks could beryllium transformed by aboriginal explorers into aerial and rocket fuel.

Also connected Saturday, the Russian spacecraft produced its archetypal results. Though Roscosmos said the accusation was undergoing analysis, the bureau reported that the preliminary information obtained contained accusation astir the chemic elements of the lunar ungraded and that its instrumentality had registered a "micrometeorite impact."

Roscosmos posted images of the Zeeman crater – the 3rd largest successful the moon's confederate hemisphere – taken from the spacecraft. The crater has a diameter of 190 kilometers (118 miles) and is 8 kilometers (five miles) deep.

The motorboat from Russia's Vostochny spaceport successful the Far East of the Luna-25 trade connected Aug. 10 was Russia's archetypal since 1976 erstwhile it was portion of the Soviet Union.

The Russian lunar lander was expected to scope the satellite betwixt Aug. 21-23, astir the aforesaid clip arsenic an Indian trade that was launched connected July 14.

Only 3 governments person managed palmy satellite landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China. India and Russia are aiming to beryllium the archetypal to onshore astatine the moon's southbound pole.

Roscosmos said it wants to amusement Russia "is a authorities susceptible of delivering a payload to the moon," and "ensure Russia's guaranteed entree to the moon's surface."

Sanctions imposed connected Russia aft it invaded Ukraine marque it harder for the state to entree Western technology, impacting its abstraction program. The Luna-25 was initially meant to transportation a tiny satellite rover but that thought was abandoned to trim the value of the trade for improved reliability, analysts say.

"Foreign electronics are lighter, home electronics are heavier," Egorov said. "While scientists mightiness person the task of studying lunar water, for Roscosmos the main task is simply to onshore connected the satellite — to retrieve mislaid Soviet expertise and larn however to execute this task successful a caller era."

The spaceport is simply a favored task of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is cardinal to his efforts to marque Russia a abstraction superpower and determination Russian launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome successful Kazakhstan.

A erstwhile Indian effort to onshore astatine the moon's southbound rod successful 2019 ended erstwhile the lander crashed into the moon's surface.