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Luna 25

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Luna-25
Luna 25 lunar lander mock-up
NamesLuna-Glob lander
Mission typeTechnology, reconnaissance
OperatorSRI RAS (IKI RAN)
COSPAR ID2023-118A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.57600Edit this on Wikidata
Websiteiki.cosmos.ru/missions/luna-25
Mission duration
  • 1 year (planned)
  • Actual: c. 9 days (mission failure)[1]
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeRobotic lander
ManufacturerNPO Lavochkin
Launch mass1,750 kg (3,860 lb)[2]
Payload mass30 kg (66 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date23:10:57.189, 10 August 2023 (UTC) (2023-08-10T23:10:57.189Z)[3][4]
RocketSoyuz-2.1b / Fregat[5]
Launch siteVostochny Cosmodrome[6]
End of mission
Destroyed11:57, 19 August 2023 (UTC) (2023-08-19T11:57Z)
← Luna 24
Luna 26 →

Luna 25 (or Luna-25; Russian: Луна-25) was a failed Russian lunar lander mission by Roscosmos[7] in August 2023 that planned to land near the lunar south pole near the crater Boguslawsky.[8]

Initially called the Luna-Glob lander (Russian: Луна-Глоб), it was renamed Luna 25 to emphasize continuity with the Soviet Luna programme from the 1970s, though it is still part of what was at one point conceptualized as the Luna-Glob lunar exploration programme. It is the first lunar lander that the Russian space agency Roscosmos has sent to the Moon (notwithstanding the ones sent by the Soviet space program) and would have been the first lander to land on the lunar south pole.[9]

The Luna 25 mission lifted off on 10 August 2023, 23:10 UTC, atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur Region,[3][10] and on 16 August entered lunar orbit. On 19 August at 11:57 UTC, the lander crashed on the Moon's surface after a failed orbital manoeuvre.[11][2][12]

History

Proposed landing sites

The previous Soviet lunar lander was Luna 24, launched in 1976. Nascent plans for what became Luna 25 began in the late 1990s, with the evaluation of two spacecraft designs having taken place by 1998. Attempts to revive and complete the project continued throughout the 2000s and were punctuated by an aborted attempt at international cooperation via a merger with JAXA's now-cancelled Lunar-A orbiter, and pressure from another attempted cooperative lunar mission with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) (which continued without Russia's involvement).[13]

Initial mission plans called for a lander and orbiter, with the latter also deploying impact penetrators. In its final form, Luna 25 was a lander only, with a primary mission of testing the landing technology. The mission carried 30 kg (66 lb) of scientific instruments, including a robotic arm for soil samples and possible drilling hardware.[2][14]

Delays in the 2010s came first from the significant rework and delay brought on by the failure of Phobos-Grunt in 2011. At this point the modern Luna 25 design was developed. Later work on the lander was slowed by resource pressures being placed upon spacecraft developer NPO Lavochkin, such as the weather satellite Elektro-L No.2 and the Spektr-RG observatory,[15] as well the landing platform Russia was contributing to ExoMars 2020.[16]

By 2017, the propulsion system for the spacecraft was in assembly.[17]

The intended landing site was located at 69°32′42″S 43°32′38″E / 69.545°S 43.544°E / -69.545; 43.544 (Luna 25 primary landing site) (north of the crater Boguslavsky), with two backup locations at 68°46′23″S 21°12′36″E / 68.773°S 21.210°E / -68.773; 21.210 (Luna 25 alternate landing site) (southwest of the Manzini crater) and 68°38′53″S 11°33′11″E / 68.648°S 11.553°E / -68.648; 11.553 (Luna 25 alternate landing site) (south of Pentland A crater).[18]

The planned mission duration of the lander on the surface of the Moon was to be at least one Earth year.[18]

At least 12.5 billion roubles (over US$130 million) had been spent on the project.[19][20]

Science payload

The lander featured a 30 kg (66 lb) payload comprising eight Russian science instruments:[21][22]

  • ADRON-LR, active neutron and gamma-ray analysis of regolith
  • ARIES-L, measurement of plasma in the exosphere
  • LASMA-LR, laser mass-spectrometer
  • LIS-TV-RPM, infrared spectrometry of minerals and imaging
  • PmL, measurement of dust and micro-meteorites
  • THERMO-L, measurement of the thermal properties of regolith
  • STS-L, panoramic and local imaging
  • Laser retroreflector, Moon libration and ranging experiments

LINA-XSAN, a Swedish payload, was originally to fly with Luna 25, but delays to the launch date caused Sweden to cancel this plan. Instead, LINA-XSAN flew on Chang'e 4 in 2019.[23]

ESA's PILOT-D navigation demonstration camera was planned to be flown on this mission, but will fly instead with a commercial service provider,[24] due to continued international collaboration having been thrown into doubt by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russia.[25][26] The demonstration instrument was supposed to collect data for the landing of other missions and was therefore not part of the lander's operating system.[27]

Flight

External video
video icon Luna-25 launch

The launch took place on 10 August 2023 from Vostochny Cosmodrome on a Soyuz-2 rocket with a Fregat upper stage.[3][28][29][30] On 16 August, the lander entered lunar orbit, with a scheduled landing date of 21 August.[31]

Crash

On 19 August, Roscosmos declared an "abnormal situation" after commanding the lander to move into a pre-landing orbit.[32][33] According to Director General of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov, a maneuvering engine could not be shut down, and ran for 127 seconds instead of 84.[34] The lander crashed on the lunar surface following the failed maneuver,[11][35][36] which created a trajectory that intersected with the Moon instead of a planned elliptical orbit with a minimum distance of 18km.[37]

Roscosmos said that it had lost contact with the spacecraft 47 minutes after the start of the engine firing.[38] Attempts on 19 and 20 August to locate and re-establish contact with the spacecraft were unsuccessful,[36] and a commission was formed to investigate the crash.[36]

See also

References

  1. ^ Carter, Jamie (26 July 2019). "A Soviet-Era 'Moon Digger' Program Is Being Revived To Hunt For Water At The Moon's South Pole". Forbes. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Krebs, Gunter (3 December 2019). "Luna-Glob (Luna 25)". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on 24 July 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  3. ^ a b c David, Leonard. "Russia launches Luna 25 moon lander, its 1st lunar probe in 47 years". Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Luna 25 launch broadcast" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  5. ^ Mitrofanov, Igor. "Luna-Glob" and "Luna-Resurs": science goals, payload and status (PDF). EGU General Assembly 2014.
  6. ^ "Запуск станции «Луна-25» запланирован на май 2022 года" [The launch of the Luna 25 spacecraft is scheduled for May 2022]. Roscosmos (in Russian). 10 August 2021. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Chandrayaan-3 Vs Russia's Luna-25 Which one is likely to win the space race". 14 August 2023. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  8. ^ O'Callaghan, Jonathan (21 August 2023). "Russian Moon lander crash — what happened, and what's next?". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-02659-6. PMID 37604864. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Russia's Luna 25 could land on the moon days before Chandrayaan-3: How the two missions compare". The Indian Express. 13 August 2023. Archived from the original on 14 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  10. ^ "As Chandrayaan-3 and Luna 25 prepare to land on Moon, two questions". 19 August 2023. Archived from the original on 19 August 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  11. ^ a b Jones, Andrew (20 August 2023). "Luna-25 crashes into moon after orbit maneuver". SpaceNews. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  12. ^ Howell, Elizabeth. "Russia's Luna-25 Lander Has Crashed into the Moon". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  13. ^ Zak, Anatoly (19 June 2019). "Luna-Glob project". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  14. ^ Zak, Anatoly (9 October 2019). "The Luna-Glob lander". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  15. ^ Zak, Anatoly (11 December 2017). "Luna-Glob (Luna 25) project in 2013". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Archived from the original on 16 March 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  16. ^ Zak, Anatoly (12 January 2018). "Development of the Luna-Glob project in 2014 and 2015". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Archived from the original on 23 March 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  17. ^ Zak, Anatoly (31 March 2018). "Luna-Glob's stop and go". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  18. ^ a b "ЛУНА-25 | Space Research Institute – IKI". iki.cosmos.ru. Archived from the original on 12 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  19. ^ "Что ждет российскую лунную миссию после потери аппарата "Луна-25" и как по ней ударят санкции – объясняет эксперт". Настоящее Время (in Russian). 21 August 2023. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  20. ^ "Роскосмос: «Луна-25» потерпела крушение, станция столкнулась с поверхностью Луны". RTVI (in Russian). 20 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  21. ^ "Luna 25 (Luna-Glob Lander) Payload". Iki.rssi.ru. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  22. ^ "NASA – Spacecraft Luna 25 – Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  23. ^ Pillet, Nicolas (25 June 2018). "Russia's Luna-Glob faces technical, political and ballistic issues". NASASpaceFlight.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  24. ^ "ESA's PROSPECT lunar drill (originally scheduled to fly on Luna-27) will now fly on a NASA CLPS mission. ESA's PILoT-D (originally planned for Luna 25) navigation camera is "already being procured from a commercial service provider."". Twitter. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  25. ^ Witze, Alexandra (11 March 2022). "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is redrawing the geopolitics of space". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-00727-x. PMID 35277688. S2CID 247407886. Archived from the original on 13 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  26. ^ "Redirecting ESA programmes in response to geopolitical crisis". www.esa.int. Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  27. ^ "Europe halts moon exploration partnership with Russia, looks to replace Ukraine-built rocket engines". Space.com. 13 April 2022. Archived from the original on 14 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  28. ^ "Запуск первой в истории современной России миссии на Луну запланировали на 11 августа" [The launch of the first mission to the Moon in the history of modern Russia was scheduled for August 11]. TASS (in Russian). 5 June 2023. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  29. ^ "Запуск миссии "Луна-25" с космодрома Восточный запланировали на 22 августа" [The launch of the Luna 25 mission from the Vostochny Cosmodrome was scheduled for August 22]. RIA Novosti (in Russian). 8 April 2022. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  30. ^ "Россия запустит космический аппарат на Луну 1 октября 2021 года" [Russia will launch a spacecraft to the moon on October 1, 2021] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 17 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  31. ^ "Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft enters lunar orbit -space agency". Reuters. 16 August 2023. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023.
  32. ^ "Госкорпорация «Роскосмос»" [State Corporation Roscosmos]. Telegram (in Russian). Archived from the original on 19 August 2023. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  33. ^ Berger, Eric (19 August 2023). "Is Luna 25 alive? Russia says an "emergency situation" has occurred". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  34. ^ "ZEIT ONLINE | Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl". www.zeit.de. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  35. ^ "ГК «Роскосмос»: Об автоматической станции «Луна-25»" [Roscosmos State Corporation: About the Luna-25 automatic station]. iki.cosmos.ru (in Russian). Space Research Institute – IKI. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  36. ^ a b c Pavlova, Uliana; Stambaugh, Alex (20 August 2023). "Russia's first moon mission in decades fails after spacecraft collides with surface". CNN. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  37. ^ "Roscosmos Confirms Luna-25 Crash". aviationweek.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  38. ^ "Russia's Lunar Lander Crashes Into the Moon". The New York Times. 20 August 2023. Archived from the original on 21 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
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