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EntityQ1042357· pop 42· linked from 521 articles

Also known as Luna-Glob Lander

Russian lunar lander, lost after an engine overburn and resulting crash on the lunar surface

Key facts

Names
Luna-Glob lander
Mission type
Technology , reconnaissance
Operator
SRI RAS (IKI RAN)
Cospar id
2023-118A
Website
iki .cosmos .ru /missions /luna-25
Mission duration
1 year (planned) Actual: c. 9 days (mission failure)
Spacecraft type
Robotic lander
Manufacturer
NPO Lavochkin
Launch mass
1,750 kg (3,860 lb)
Payload mass
30 kg (66 lb)
Launch date
August 10, 2023, 23:10 ( 2023-08-10UTC23:10Z ) UTC
Rocket
Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat
Launch site
Vostochny Cosmodrome
Landing date
11:57, 19 August 2023 (UTC) ( 2023-08-19T11:57:00Z ) (crashed)

via Wikipedia infobox

~8 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Luna 25 (Russian: Луна-25), also known as the Luna-Glob lander, was a failed Russian lunar lander mission operated by Roscosmos. It was the first lunar mission undertaken by Russia since the Soviet-era Luna 24 in 1976, and was intended to be the first spacecraft ever to land near the lunar south pole. The spacecraft was manufactured by NPO Lavochkin and carried 30 kg (66 lb) of scientific instruments, including instruments for analyzing lunar regolith and measuring plasma in the exosphere.

Luna 25 lifted off on August 10, 2023, at 23:10 UTC, atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Amur Region. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on August 16, 2023, with a scheduled landing date of August 21 near the crater Boguslawsky. On August 19, 2023, a failed orbital maneuver caused the lander to follow a trajectory that intersected with the lunar surface rather than the planned elliptical orbit. The spacecraft crashed into the inner rim of Pontécoulant G crater at 11:57 UTC, approximately 400 kilometers short of its intended landing site. The impact site was later identified by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Luna 25” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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