Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed onto the surface of the moon on August 20 after spinning into an uncontrollable orbit, the Roskosmos space agency reported, delivering a blow to President Vladimir Putin's space ambitions.
Roskosmos said it had lost all contact with the probe as it attempted to land on the Moon’s south pole, a feat that no nation has yet achieved.
“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” Roskosmos said in a statement.
Putin last year vowed that Russia would return to the moon despite Western sanctions that deprive the country of critical advanced technology.
A successful landing would have helped boost Russia’s prestige following its disastrous invasion of Ukraine and the poor performance of its armed forces.
Moscow would have gained “bragging rights” to add to its list of space achievements, including the first to send a satellite, man, woman, and dog into space, Tim Marshall, author of a book on the latest space race, wrote in a post earlier this month.
More concretely, a successful landing would have sent a message to Beijing that “Russia remains a serious space power” at a time when Putin is looking to deepen cooperation in space with China amid Western isolation, he said.
Roskosmos said a special commission had been formed to investigate the reasons behind the catastrophic failure.
A day prior to the crash, the spacecraft experienced an “abnormal situation” as it prepared to enter a pre-landing orbit prior to its scheduled descent to the lunar surface on August 21.
According to Russian media, space officials held an emergency meeting overnight on August 19-20 in an attempt to try to save the mission.
“Measures taken on August 19 and 20 to locate the craft and make contact with it were unsuccessful,” the Roskosmos statement added.
The Luna-25 entered lunar orbit on August 16, becoming the first Russian spacecraft to do so since the Luna-24 in 1976 under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Russia plans to establish a base on the moon by 2040.
A Soyuz 2.1b rocket with the Luna-25 lander blasts off from the launch pad at the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's Amur region on August 11.
Most moon missions have landed on its equator.
The Luna-25 probe was scheduled to land on the south pole, where scientists believe they might find frozen water and other resources that could be used during longer human stays on the surface of the moon.
If the landing succeeded, Russia would have had a leg up in the competition for its resources, according to Marshall.
“As on Earth, the resources are finite so it will be first come first served,” he wrote.
The probe had the capability to dig out rock samples up to 6 inches deep to determine where water and other minerals might be. It was supposed to operate for one year.
A rocket carrying the 800-kilogram Luna-25 probe was launched from Russia’s Vostochny cosmodrome on August 11.
Russia has been racing against India, which plans to land its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft at the moon’s south pole on August 23.
The United States and China also have advanced lunar-exploration programs and plans to establish lunar bases.
In 2011, Russia’s ambitious Fobos-Grunt mission to a moon of Mars failed without even exiting Earth’s orbit, crashing into the Pacific Ocean in 2012.