Russia’s Luna-25 probe has crashed into the Moon’s surface. Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, has written it off as definitely lost and in pieces.
Dejection is widespread both among the Kremlin’s large space and political community and among ordinary Russians, for whom each new achievement of their own in the exploration of the cosmos helps to bolster national pride. Their grief is in stark contrast to the expressions of enormous joy expressed by Spaniards everywhere at the feat achieved by the women’s national football team in winning the World Cup in Australia.
President Vladimir Putin had every confidence in the success of the Luna-25 mission, the flagship mission chosen by Roscosmos to prove to the world that Russia is still a major space power. The probe was supposed to open the doors to Moscow’s revitalised lunar programme and reposition Lavochkin, his veteran scientific probe and satellite manufacturing company, at the global technological forefront.
PHOTO/Khrunichev – Roscosmos Director General Yuri Borisov is chairing the meeting. The failure of the jewel in the crown of Russian astronautics puts his high office, in which he has held for 13 months, at risk
However, the Russian spacecraft’s attempt to land on the Moon has ended in a resounding technical failure and the head of Lavochkin CEO Vladimir Kolmykov, in office since August 2017, hangs in the balance. Also at risk is the neck of Roscosmos director general General Yuri Borisov, who has been in the post for just 13 months.
Roscosmos has already officially confirmed the loss of Luna-25. The state news agencies Tass and Novosti reported on Sunday, 20 August, at 10:57 am Spanish time (11:57 am Moscow time) that “the Luna-25 automatic station has been destroyed after colliding with the surface of the moon”. Scientists from the Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) who were to take and analyse the samples obtained by the probe have been left without work.
PHOTO/Energy-Roscosmos – Communications with Luna-25 were interrupted on 19 August after activation of the propulsion system initiating the descent. It could no longer be re-established
The alert was sounded on Saturday, 19 August.
The first warning that things were not going according to plan came on Saturday, 19 August. The Roscosmos deputy director in charge of the mission, Alexander Ivanov, was urgently summoned and the agency issued a statement at 18:35. It said that, according to the flight programme, at 14:10 a “telecommand had been sent to the probe to activate the propulsion system that was to place it on an initial descent trajectory”.
But it added that, during the operation, there had been an “emergency” on board that “had not allowed the manoeuvre to be carried out in accordance with the established parameters”. It noted that the results of the preliminary analysis carried out by the mission monitoring and control technicians “suggest” that there had been a “deviation between the actual and calculated parameters” for the propulsion manoeuvre.
PHOTO/IKI-RAN – The Russian probe had three possible landing zones at the South Pole, each measuring 30 x 15 kilometres. The first and main one, in green, was in the vicinity of the Bogulavsky crater
The following day, Sunday 20 August, at 09:47 Moscow time, Roscosmos pointed out that communications with the spacecraft had been interrupted the previous day since 14:57. The agency stressed that “all” measures taken since then to locate the spacecraft’s actual position and re-establish communications “have been unsuccessful”.
The Agency concluded that Luna-25 “entered the wrong orbit” and “ceased to exist after colliding with the surface of the Moon”. At the same time, it announced the appointment of an Interdepartmental Commission to determine the causes of the accident. And here ends the story of Luna-25, Russia’s first great bid in the 21st century to return to the surface of Selene.
PHOTO/IKI-Roscosmos – IKI’s scientific director, Professor Lev Zelyony, is one of the big disappointments. He had hoped that Luna-25 would be the first probe to land in the circumpolar region and detect the presence of water ice
The unofficial sources consulted say that “the ignition of the engine to correct the orbit prior to descent” took too long “due to a programming error”. As a result, according to unofficial sources, the spacecraft slipped out of its orbital position, plummeted and crashed to the moon’s floor. Roscosmos has not reported the height or speed of the probe at the time of the loss of control and communications.
All eyes on Chandrayaan-3
Luna-25 was intended to make a qualitative leap from academic research on the structure of the Earth’s natural satellite to the practical study of lunar water reserves. This is confirmed by IKI’s scientific director, Professor Lev Zelyony, who was confident that it would be “the first surface probe to land on the moon in the circumpolar region”.
Fortunately, before losing contact with the ground, the probe transmitted data from some of its science instruments and photographs of the Zeeman crater at the lunar South Pole back to Earth. Luna-25 was to land on the visible side of Bogulavsky Crater and conduct the first direct experiments “to detect the presence of water ice,” says Professor Zelyony.
PHOTO/Lavochkin-Roscosmos – The trajectory of Luna-25 was much more direct than Chandrayaan-3 on its way to the Moon. The Russian spacecraft launched on 11 August and was due to land on Monday, 21 August. The Indian spacecraft took off on 14 July and is due to arrive on Wednesday, 23 July.
The loss of Luna-25 clears the way for Chandrayaan-3 of the Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO. The Asian country now has the opportunity to be the first to land on the lunar South Pole and become the fourth power to reach Selene’s soil. So far, all probes from the US, the former Soviet Union and China have landed on the near side and a few on the non-visible side of the moon.
Chandrayaan 3 was launched on 14 July and entered lunar orbit on 5 August. It has already executed a series of manoeuvres to slow down its speed for a soft landing, which is scheduled for 23 August at 21:34 GMT. Luna-25 was launched into space later – on 11 August – and was scheduled to land on Monday, 21 August. Essentially, the time difference lies in the longer trajectory of the Indian probe, which weighs 3.9 tonnes, compared to the more direct trajectory of Luna 25, which weighs 1.7 tonnes.
PHOTO/IKI-RAN – The twenty or so scientists from the Russian Space Research Institute (IKI) who were supposed to take and analyse the samples obtained by the probe have been put out of work
If India succeeds in landing on the South Pole, it will have demonstrated the potential of its space community – industrial, scientific and academic – and will be able to talk on equal terms with the United States, Russia and China and strengthen its presence in major international cooperation projects. On the one hand, with the Beijing-Moscow initiative to create a base on the lunar surface. On the other, with the manned programme and the NASA-led Artemis agreements to return astronauts to the moon’s soil.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
