![A photograph of the Luna 25 mission released by Roscosmos on August 16, 2023.](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/luna-25.jpg)
Roscosmos
In a terse update posted on the social media network Telegram Saturday, the Russian space corporation Roscosmos said that an “emergency situation” had occurred on board its Luna 25 spacecraft.
The 1.2-ton lunar lander entered orbit across the Moon three days ago, and since that point Russian engineers have been sending commands for small engine burns to correct the spacecraft’s orbit. Roscosmos sent one other of those commands on Saturday to place Luna 25 right into a “pre-landing orbit,” ahead of a landing that had been on account of occur as soon as Monday.
Nonetheless, in the course of the maneuver at 14:10 Moscow time (11:10 UTC) on Saturday an issue occurred, which didn’t allow the operation to be carried out successfully. “The management team is currently analyzing the situation,” concluded the short statement from Roscosmos.
Since that point rumors have been running rampant on Russian social media channels, with the presumption that the spacecraft has probably been lost. Russian space reporter Anatoly Zak said it seems possible that Roscosmos has lost communication with Luna 25, but will proceed its efforts to attempt to contact the spacecraft.
Russia’s efforts to reestablish communication with Luna 25 might be complicated by the country’s lack of a deep space communications network. Satellite tracker Scott Tilley noted that the country’s ability to speak with Luna 25 might be limited to when the Moon is visible over Russia. There are relatively few of those opportunities in the times ahead.
A significant setback
The lack of Luna 25—should efforts to revive communications with the spacecraft be unsuccessful—would represent a major blow to the already reeling Russian space industry. The mission lifted off nine days ago as a part of an effort to rekindle the historic space exploration efforts undertaken by the Soviet Union within the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies. Essentially, the modest Moon mission was supposed make Russia great in space again.
As Ars has previously reported, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 sent Russia’s economy right into a tailspin. Meager funding for the Russian space program went toward maintaining the Mir space station in low-Earth orbit and joining NASA to construct the International Space Station, primarily with hardware and spare parts from Mir’s development. The country has continued launching humans on Soyuz spacecraft, technology which dates back greater than half a century.
The ultimate Soviet lunar mission launched in 1976. By way of interplanetary exploration, the Russians launched two shots at Mars in 1996 and 2011, but each failed to depart low-Earth orbit. Several European Mars missions have successfully launched on Russian rockets, but those relied on European technology to succeed in the red planet and operate there. Because the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has not successfully sent a probe to the Moon.
Russia has said it doesn’t wish to stop with Luna 25. There are plans for a Luna 26 orbiter mission, officially projected to launch in 2027, followed by two more ambitious robotic landing expeditions. But those launches are still years away, and given how long it took for Russia to ready Luna 25 for flight, it’s probably a protected bet future Luna missions might be delayed more, in the event that they fly in any respect.
Now, the questions and concerns about these future missions might be magnified.