The main cause of the crash of the Luna-25 spacecraft on the surface of the moon over the weekend was that its propulsion system worked for 43 seconds longer than it was supposed to during a correction of its orbit, said Yury Borisov, the director of the Russian space agency, Roskosmos.
The propulsion system worked for 127 seconds instead of the planned 84, Borisov said on August 21 in an interview with the Russia-24 TV channel.
"At 2:10 p.m. [August 19], the engines turned on, which were supposed to correct and put the device into a pre-landing orbit. Unfortunately, the engine shutdown did not occur normally…and instead of the planned 84 seconds, it worked 127 seconds,” Borisov said, adding that this was “the main reason for the accident of the device."
He said the system was tested on the ground before being loaded onto the spacecraft.
The Luna-25 spacecraft crashed on the surface of the moon on August 20 after spinning into an uncontrollable orbit.
Roskosmos said in a statement on August 20 that it lost all contact with the probe after it “moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon.”
The agency said a special commission had been formed to investigate the reasons behind the failure, which was a blow to the prestige of Russia’s space program.
The Luna-25 probe 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
The mission was intended to explore a part of the moon 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.
It was supposed to operate for one year in the area around the moon’s south pole.
Moscow had been promoting the Luna-25 mission as a demonstration of its capabilities despite the burdens of its drawn-out and costly invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Russia has been racing against India, which plans to land its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft at the moon’s south pole on August 23.
India’s space agency said on August 21 that all systems on its spacecraft were working "perfectly" and no contingencies are anticipated on the landing day.
A successful mission would make India only the fourth country to successfully land on the moon after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.