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Luna 25

Coordinates:57°51′54″S61°21′36″E/ 57.865°S 61.360°E/-57.865; 61.360
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Luna-25
Luna 25 lunar lander mock-up
NamesLuna-Glob lander
Mission typeTechnology,reconnaissance
OperatorSRI RAS (IKI RAN)
COSPAR ID2023-118AEdit this at Wikidata
SATCATno.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]
Contractor
Lunarlander
Landing date11:57, 19 August 2023 (UTC)(2023-08-19T11:57Z)(crashed)
Landing sitenear-Lunar south pole(intended)
57°51′54″S61°21′36″E/ 57.865°S 61.360°E/-57.865; 61.360(crash site)
(Pontécoulant Gcrater)

Luna 25 mission patch

Luna 25(orLuna-25;Russian:Луна-25) was a failed Russianlunar landermission byRoscosmos[7]in August 2023 that planned to land near thelunar south pole,in the vicinity of the craterBoguslawsky.[8]

Initially called theLuna-Glob lander(Russian:Луна-Глоб), it was renamed Luna 25 to emphasize continuity with the SovietLuna programmefrom the 1970s, though it is part of theLuna-Globlunar exploration programme. It was the first lunar lander that the Russian space agency Roscosmos has sent to the Moon (notwithstanding the ones sent by theSoviet 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 aSoyuz-2.1brocket from theVostochny Cosmodromein Russia's far easternAmur Region,[3][10]and on 16 August enteredlunar 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[edit]

Proposed landing sites
Suggested landing ellipses for Luna-Glob (Luna-25). Primary ellipses are 1, 4, 6 and secondary ellipses are 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and B1, B2.

The previous lunar lander in the series was aSovietcraft,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 withJAXA's now-cancelledLunar-Aorbiter, and pressure from another attempted cooperative lunar mission withIndian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) (whichcontinued 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 thelanding technology.The mission carried 30 kg (66 lb) of scientific instruments, including arobotic armfor soil samples and possibledrilling hardware.[2][14]

Delays in the 2010s came first from the significant rework and delay brought on by the failure ofPhobos-Gruntin 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 developerNPO Lavochkin,such as theweather satelliteElektro-L No.2and theSpektr-RGobservatory,[15]as well the landing platform Russia was contributing toExoMars 2020.[16]

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

The intended landing site was located at69°32′42″S43°32′38″E/ 69.545°S 43.544°E/-69.545; 43.544(Luna 25 primary landing site)(north of the craterBoguslavsky), with two backup locations at68°46′23″S21°12′36″E/ 68.773°S 21.210°E/-68.773; 21.210(Luna 25 alternate landing site)(southwest of the Manzini crater) and68°38′53″S11°33′11″E/ 68.648°S 11.553°E/-68.648; 11.553(Luna 25 alternate landing site)(south ofPentland Acrater).[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 billionroubles(over US$130 million) had been spent on the project.[19][20]

Science payload[edit]

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

  • ADRON-LR, active neutron andgamma-rayanalysis ofregolith
  • ARIES-L, measurement ofplasmain theexosphere
  • 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
  • Laserretroreflector,Moonlibrationand 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 onChang'e 4in 2019.[23]

ESA's PILOT-D navigation demonstration camera was planned to be flown on this mission, but flew instead with a commercial service provider,[24]due to continued international collaboration having been thrown into doubt by the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraineand relatedsanctions 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[edit]

External video
video iconLuna-25 launch

The launch took place on 10 August 2023 fromVostochny Cosmodromeon aSoyuz-2rocket with aFregatupper stage.[3][28][29][30]On 16 August, the lander enteredlunar orbit,with a scheduled landing date of 21 August.[31]

Crash[edit]

Luna 25 impact site (arrowed), photographed byNASA'sLunar Reconnaissance Orbiteron 26 August 2023. The field of view is 1,100 meters wide, with lunar north at the top.

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 RoscosmosYuri 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 18 km.[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]

The LRO camera team located the likely location of the impact crater, after an estimate was published by Russian researchers. The crash site is situated on the steep inner rim of thePontécoulant Gcrater, which is 400 kilometers short of Luna 25's intended landing point if it had attempted a landing procedure.[39]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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  2. ^abcKrebs, Gunter (3 December 2019)."Luna-Glob (Luna 25)".Gunter's Space Page.Archivedfrom the original on 24 July 2022.Retrieved14 January2020.
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  5. ^Mitrofanov, Igor."Luna-Glob" and "Luna-Resurs": science goals, payload and status(PDF).EGU General Assembly 2014.
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External links[edit]