Russia Luna-25 Status Remains Unclear As Roscosmos Issues ‘Emergency Situation’ Sparking Rumors of Spacecraft Being Lost

Russia has had a huge presence in the space industry as the country has consistently been sending rockets into space since the 1960s. As such, Roscosmos has recently announced an emergency for its Luna-25 spacecraft.

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Luna-25 Spacecraft

The Luna-25 was designed to study the lunar polar exosphere's plasma and dust components. It is expected to do so for a year.

The mission launched last Aug 10 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. On the 16th, the lander reached the Moon and bumped up its systems for it to start lunar orbit. The lander was expected to land over the lunar south pole surface after orbiting for roughly five to seven days.

However, the Luna-25 spacecraft probe encountered an issue upon engine burn while it was making its way into its final pre-landing orbit around the moon. The probe was supposed to attempt a touchdown on Aug 21, but before that, it reached its final pre-landing orbit on Aug 19.

Roscosmos said they encountered an emergency on the automatic station, restricting it from performing the specified maneuver. The agency also assured that its management team was working on the situation.

ALSO READ: India's Chandrayaan-3, Russia's Luna 25 Set To Land on Moon Next Week for Their Lunar Missions

Rumors About the Spacecraft

This didn't stop Russia's internet from sparking rumors regarding the scenario, with many of them assuming that Luna-25 was lost. RussianSpaceWeb.com's Anatoly Zak said that if there were a fatal issue, Roscosmos wouldn't mention it.

Should the rumors about the Luna-25 spacecraft be correct, this would be a massive blow to the Russian space program. As such, Luna-25 was the country's first moon mission since the Luna-24 in 1976.

If the lander can return from the glitch it experienced, the Luna-25 will use its science instruments to look for water ice and perform different investigations.

Missions to the Moon

At present, only three governments can successfully pull off lunar landings. These are the US, China, and the Soviet Union. This Luna-25 mission serves as Russia's first lunar voyage after the era of the Soviet Union.

Both Russia and India aim to be the record-breaking first to have a lander reach the south pole of the Moon. The challenge, however, is quite difficult,

Russia's space agency explained that they want to show that the country can send payload off to the Moon and ensure that the country has sure access to the lunar surface.

The agency also released images of the lunar Zeeman crater that the spacecraft was able to snap. This crater is considered the third deepest in the southern hemisphere of the Moon. It spans eight kilometers in depth and 190 kilometers in diameter.