Luna 25

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]
Contractor
Lunar lander
Landing date11:57, 19 August 2023 (UTC) (2023-08-19T11:57Z) (crashed)
Landing sitenear-Lunar south pole (intended)
57°51′54″S 61°21′36″E / 57.865°S 61.360°E / -57.865; 61.360 (crash site)
(Pontécoulant G crater)

Luna 25 mission patch
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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, in the vicinity of 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 part of the Luna-Glob lunar exploration programme. It was 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]

  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 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 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. S2CID 261063736. 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. ^ Cite error: The named reference sn20230820 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  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.