19 August (Reuters) – Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Saturday that there was an “abnormal event” with Russia’s Luna 25 probe as it prepared to transition to orbit before landing.
A Russian spacecraft is scheduled to land at the moon’s south pole on Monday, as part of a major power race to explore parts of the moon where scientists believe to contain frozen water and precious elements.
In a short statement, Roscosmos said: “During the operation, an unusual situation occurred inside the automatic station, which made it impossible to carry out the operation with the specified parameters.”
It said experts were analyzing the situation but did not provide further details.
Earlier, Roscosmos said it had received the first results from the Luna 25 mission and was analyzing them.
The agency also posted an image of the moon’s Zeeman crater taken from the spacecraft. The crater is the third deepest in the lunar southern hemisphere, with a diameter of 190 kilometers and a depth of 8 kilometers, according to the magazine.
Roscosmos said the data it has received so far provides information about the chemical elements in lunar soil and will also facilitate the operation of instruments designed to study near the surface of the moon.
He added that the device recorded “micrometeorite impact events.”
Luna 25 entered lunar orbit on Wednesday, becoming the first Russian spacecraft to do so since 1976.
Roughly the size of a small car, it aims to operate for a year in Antarctica, where scientists at NASA and other space agencies have recently detected traces of frozen water in craters.
The presence of water could affect major space powers and enable long-term human stays on the moon that would allow mining of lunar resources.
Written by Gareth Jones.Editing: Jane Merriman
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