Russia’s space agency has reported an “unplanned situation” on its spacecraft. Specialists are now busy trying to determine the cause. “Luna-25” is supposed to land on the moon in two days.
According to information from Moscow, two days before the planned landing on the moon there was an unexpected incident on the Russian space probe “Luna-25”. In preparation for touching down soon on the lunar surface, the probe should enter a new orbit of the Earth’s satellite on Saturday at 2:10 p.m. Moscow time (1:10 p.m. CEST), according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
“During the operation, an unscheduled situation arose on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be carried out under the given parameters,” it said. Specialists are now busy investigating the incident and determining the cause. No further details were given. The probe is scheduled to land on Monday next Monday. Whether it will stay that way is still unclear.
Probe launched a week ago
“Luna-25” is part of the Russian lunar program, which envisages the construction of its own space station there by 2040. The probe was launched more than a week ago and entered orbit around the moon last Wednesday. Since then, according to Russian information, the 1,800-kilogram missile has been looking for a suitable landing site. On Thursday, Roskosmos presented a photo of the moon’s surface taken by the probe.
Actually, “Luna” should have been on the road for a long time. The first planned launch date for a lunar probe was 2012. Last year, another launch was planned for May, which was then delayed again due to technical problems. Roskosmos originally worked with the European space agency ESA on the moon program. However, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, ESA ended cooperation with Moscow.