The unmanned Russian probe Luna-25 crashed into the lunar surface. The Russian space agency Roscomos specified how it fell into the Pontecoulant G crater in the southern hemisphere of the Moon. Again according to Roscomos, the failure of the mission would be due to the ignition of the engines for too long to control the descent, 127 seconds compared to the expected 84.
The goal of the trip
Launched on August 11 from the Vostochny cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz rocket, Luna-25 was supposed to land in an automated way on the lunar surface, near the South Pole, to perform some scientific experiments and act as a trailblazer for some subsequent more complex missions and already planned.
The reasons for the crash
A few days after the launch, the probe had successfully entered lunar orbit but during the orbit adjustment phases in view of the descent, a problem with the thrusters was recorded: “They worked for 127 seconds instead of 84”, said the head of Roscosmos Yury Borisov in an interview with the Russia24 TV channel. “That was the main cause of the probe crash,” he added. In the coming days, the technicians will try to understand the origins of this malfunction which could be due to an error in the software or to the malfunction of the engine shut-off valve.
Source-tg24.sky.it