All eyes on Chandrayaan-3 as Russia's spacecraft Luna 25 crashes on moon's surface

Initially scheduled to make a gentle landing on the Moon's surface on Monday, August 21, Luna-25 experienced complications on Saturday while trying to maneuver into its designated pre-landing orbit. This orbit, coincidentally, was meant to overlap with the landing zone for Chandrayaan-3.

New Delhi: Russia's Luna-25 lunar mission encountered a mishap, resulting in a crash landing on the Moon's surface, as confirmed by the nation's space agency on Sunday. This turn of events has cleared the way for India's Chandrayaan-3 to take the lead as it steers toward becoming the foremost spacecraft to achieve a successful landing near the lunar south pole.

During the morning hours of Sunday, Chandrayaan-3 smoothly transitioned into its pre-landing orbit, positioned at 25 km by 134 km from the lunar expanse. This preparatory move was in anticipation of its scheduled landing, set for August 23. The moment of truth for Chandrayaan-3 is projected to occur around 5.45 pm IST on Wednesday, with the touchdown anticipated after a 15-minute interval.

Initially scheduled to make a gentle landing on the Moon's surface on Monday, August 21, Luna-25 experienced complications on Saturday while trying to maneuver into its designated pre-landing orbit. This orbit, coincidentally, was meant to overlap with the landing zone for Chandrayaan-3. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, divulged that an unexpected "emergency situation" had arisen within Luna-25, rendering the planned orbit-reduction maneuver unfeasible. Furthermore, communication with the spacecraft was lost. The agency embarked on efforts to troubleshoot the issue.

Nonetheless, Roscosmos disclosed on Sunday afternoon that Luna-25 had undergone an unfortunate crash landing on the Moon's terrain, marking an unfortunate conclusion to the mission. In a statement, Roscosmos shared, "The endeavors undertaken on August 19 and 20 to locate and establish contact with Luna-25 yielded no fruitful outcomes." The agency's assessment pointed to a collision with the lunar surface as a result of deviations from calculated propulsion parameters.

Over the past four years, four nations—India, Israel, Japan, and now Russia—have endeavored to execute soft landings on the Moon but have met with setbacks during the final stages, culminating in crash landings. While Chandrayaan-3 aspires to amend this trend for India on the forthcoming Wednesday, Japan is poised for another endeavor with the launch of its SLIM spacecraft later this month.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) affirmed the smooth functioning of Chandrayaan-3, asserting that it is primed for its planned descent on Wednesday, aligned with the onset of the lunar day, spanning approximately 14 days on Earth. ISRO clarified that the module will undertake internal assessments while awaiting sunrise at the designated lunar landing site. The powered descent is earmarked for August 23, 2023, around 1745 hours IST.