Russia’s Luna-25 lander declared an ’emergency’ before landing on the moon

Russia’s space agency on Saturday declared an “emergency” aboard its Luna-25 spacecraft – the country’s first lunar mission in nearly half a century – as it attempted to enter pre-landing orbit ahead of a scheduled Monday touchdown.

Roscosmos sent a command at 2:10 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday, prompting the lander to enter a pre-landing orbit, but “an emergency occurred in space exploration that did not allow it to perform the maneuver according to the required parameters,” it said. said in an update This was reported by the Russian state news agency Telegram Toss.

Experts are investigating the situation, Roscosmos said, without providing further details.

During the Russian and Indian moon landings, the Moon Rush gathers

Luna-25 was Russia’s first attempt to land on the moon since 1976. The unmanned spacecraft lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s East Amur region on August 11 local time.

It has already sent back images of the moon’s Zeeman crater, and was expected to land on Monday – two days earlier. Indian work Set to touch. Their race to land on the moon’s south pole comes amid a rush from countries including the US and China to establish a lunar presence.

Russia’s lander has a 1.6-meter-long (about 5-foot-3-inch) robotic arm with a scoop to collect rocks, soil and dust. It is expected to operate on the lunar surface for one year task To study the composition of the South Pole found by NASA and other organizations Traces of frozen water.

Access to that ice would be vital to any human settlement, The Washington Post reported — not only would the water sustain life, but its component parts of hydrogen and oxygen could be used as rocket fuel, making the moon a booster for other regions. of the solar system.

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