Anish Vij
Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon after spinning out of control, according to Roscosmos, the country’s space agency.
"The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon," a statement from Roscosmos reads.
On Saturday, the space agency said they lost contact with Luna-25 after an 'abnormal situation' occurred where the spacecraft struggled in its pre-landing.
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"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," they added.
The plan was for the spacecraft to land on the south pole of the moon on Monday, an area on the moon that scientists are keeping an extra eye on.
Some experts believe that the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain frozen water in the rocks.
There is an expectation that future explorers could transform the frozen water into air and rocket fuel.
No idea how that would work, but there you go.
It also seems that the Russian lunar lander was in a race with India to land on Earth’s satellite.
Both were expected to reach the moon between August 21 and 23.
No country has ever been able to land a spacecraft on the South Pole area.
A previous Indian attempt to land at the moon’s south pole in 2019 ended when the lander crashed into the moon’s surface.
Roscosmos said it wanted to show that Russia 'is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon' and 'ensure Russia’s guaranteed access to the moon’s surface'.
Since the war in Ukraine, there have been sanctions imposed on Russia, making it increasingly difficult for the country to access Western technology, impacting its space programme.
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.
In fact, the launch of Luna-25 was the country's first space launch since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union.
The spacecraft launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia on August 10 amid reported attempts from President Vladimir Putin to improve Russia's space presence.
Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the country's Roscosmos space agency said last year: "The position of our partners is clear: the sanctions will not be lifted.
"At the same time, fearing the destruction of cooperation on the ISS, where the role of Russia is of fundamental importance to ensure the viability and safety of the station, Western partners make it clear that in reality, sanctions in terms of work in the interests of the ISS will not work.
"I consider this state of affairs unacceptable."