Posted on 08/21/2023 11:02:44 AM PDT by Red Badger
MOSCOW — Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, the country’s Roscosmos space agency said Sunday.
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 Monday.
However, Roscosmos said it lost contact with the Luna-25 on Saturday 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.
The Luna-25 was in a race with an Indian spacecraft launched on July 14 to be the first to reach the south pole. Both were expected to reach the moon between Aug. 21 and 23.
Vitaly Egorov, a popular Russian space analyst, said despite the crash the mission had some successes.
“Luna 25 showed important progress. It flew toward the Moon, carried out orbit correction, and tested onboard electronics and scientific tools,” he said via videocall. “It even managed to collect some small scientific data during the flight and from the lunar orbit. It also sent photos of the Moon. Russian cosmonautics was not at this level before. But then, an error occurred somehow.”
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.”
Egorov said Roscosmos needs the experience of landing on the Moon.
“It will not be able to talk with China on equal terms, because China has already three successful landings on the moon, while Roscosmos has none,” he said. “Roscosmos will lag starkly behind the Chinese lunar program.”
Sanctions imposed on Russia since it began its actions in Ukraine have affected its space program, 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 Aug. 10. The spaceport is a pet project of Russian President Vladimir Putin and key to his efforts to make Russia a space superpower.
Shot down by aliens.
“ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS, EXCEPT THE SOUTH POLE OF THE MOON.
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.
USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE.”
It crashed because of climate change.
A new crater to be named. I propose naming it the “ой crater”.
Putin’s Crater..................
It is very fortunate that a monkey wasn’t sent in the probe. The poor critter would have been fried crispy by the Van Allen Belts prior to crashing on the moon!
You kow we have a search function here?
https://freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=luna
Yes, the designers will now be living in Siberia..................
In Russian, ой means ouch or whoops.
Best commentary on Russian vs. US technology prowess:
Hope this is still funny in a few years when comparing Chinese vs. US technology after the full effect of wokeism and dumbing down US education has been felt.
Shot down by the USA of course
Different source....................
Space is hard.
Van Allen charged particle belts will generate a cumulative dose. It requires time for the accumulation to occur.
Spacecraft beyond about 600 miles altitude and below 8,000 miles will accumulate radiation damage. There are other belts out to 35000 miles but have much less density.
Traversing these belts (which btw do not exist above about 67% latitude +/-) in a short time poses little cumulative dose risk, by definition. Spacecraft seeking high altitude orbits traverse the belts briefly in an ellipse until a circularizing burn completes. The Apollo missions similarly passed through them in a brief time.
As for the Russians, space is hard. If it was easy, the Philippines would have launch complexes on the south part of the islands. Ditto Ecuador. Ditto Singapore. Anywhere near the equator to get a propulsion boost by rotation.
Space is hard. The Russians have a superb program. This is a non event. FYI the day of the Apollo 11 landing, the Washington Post’s front page story was of a Soviet sample return mission that had entered lunar orbit. They have always had spectacular technical academies.
A space mission for science and exploration ends in failure. What kind of jerk takes pleasure in that? Do you have some special prejudice against Russia, or is this just a generalized miserable jingoism that sulks in envy when any foreign country does well at anything?
Yes. Specifically, for her leadership.
You're in the fake moon landing camp, I guess. There are articles that explain how they dealt with the radiation belts.
And, no, I won't. Do your own research, madam.
Me too! A loser country brought about by 600 years of cruel despotism. 300 years of Romanov tyranny perfected by the modern Soviet state and its successor. A perfectly capable people, slaughtered and their potential retarded by centuries of vicious leadership. A country with a well-well-earned inferiority complex has caused them to lash out and oppress other people whenever they get half the chance.
So, yeah, not a big Russia fan
The mission was to deliver some protected Canada geese to seek out and find the pools of water, then leave a crap trail for future astronauts to follow.
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