Luna-25 Fails to Land (Properly) on the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Our Moon in all its glory. (NASA/JPL/USGS)

The message from Roscosmos was pretty bland:

During the operation, an abnormal situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters.

Translated into normal speech, we learned that Luna-25 crashed during its attempted landing on the lunar surface.

This is a blow for Russia and Putin as well. The Soviet Union could threaten the world and run a terrific space program. The Russians are bogged down in Ukraine and unable to pick up a lunar program ceased about 50 years ago. It is sad to watch.

Roscosmos Director General Yury Borisov blamed the crash on Russia’s long absence from the Moon, stating,

The negative experience of interrupting the lunar program for almost 50 years is the main reason for the failures.

He may want to add corruption, economic sanctions, and horrible leadership to that list of reasons.

At least the Russian mission was able to share a few photos from orbit before it all ended.

The Moon’s south pole is still available for anyone who wants it. The Indian space program will give it a try this week. We can only wish them well as they fly over the Russian rubble.

A New View of the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Zeeman crater as captured by Luna-25. (IKI RAS)

The first images from Russia’s Luna-25 mission have arrived. They show the far side of the Moon permanently hidden from those of us here on Earth.

The spacecraft is now orbiting the Moon, which was last done by the Russians back in 1976. The lander is expected to be on the lunar surface this Monday if all goes well.

For the sake of science (leaving politics out of it), let’s hope for a successful landing.

Russia Returns to the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Soyuz rocket carrying the Luna-25 lander launched from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome. (Agence France-Presse)

Russia’s Luna-25 mission has begun with the successful lift-off of the Soyuz 2.1 rocket yesterday (2:11 a.m. on Friday Moscow time or Thursday at 7:10 pm EDT). After its planned arrival on August 21, Luna-25 will be searching for water at the lunar south pole.

The mission was off and then on again over the years as Russia became super cautious with its return to the Moon. The country’s invasion of Ukraine led to the loss of European partners as well as sanction-related shortages, so Russia has no one to blame but itself. Science was pushed aside as it bullied its neighbors.

One can only wonder whether Russia knows how to start anew. Even the name of the mission, Luna, is a Cold War leftover. It would be the same as NASA restarting the Apollo program rather than the more comprehensive and Mars-focused Artemis mission.

There is plenty of room on the Moon for multiple national missions. Moreover, similar to the International Space Station, it would be beneficial for US and Russian scientists to share data and ideas. It would just be easier if Russian rockets were only focused on the Moon rather than Ukrainian cities.

Space Stories: Mars Ascent Vehicle, Dark Matter Stars, and a New Russian Space Station

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Mars Ascent Vehicle. (NASA)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—NASA/JPJ.com : “NASA Mars Ascent Vehicle Continues Progress Toward Mars Sample Return“

NASA’s Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) recently reached some major milestones in support of the Mars Sample Return program. The Mars Ascent Vehicle would be the first launch of a rocket from the surface of another planet. The team developing MAV conducted successful tests of the first and second stage solid rocket motors needed for the launch. Mars Sample Return will bring scientifically selected samples to Earth for study using the most sophisticated instrumentation around the world. This strategic partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) features the first mission to return samples from another planet. The samples currently being collected by NASA’s Perseverance Rover during its exploration of an ancient river delta have the potential to reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for ancient life.

—ScienceNews : “The James Webb Telescope May Have Spotted Stars Powered by Dark Matter“

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted objects in the early universe that might be a new kind of star — one powered by dark matter. These “dark stars” are still hypothetical. Their identification in JWST images is far from certain. But if any of the three candidates — reported in the July 25 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — turn out to be this new type of star, they could offer a glimpse of star formation in the early universe, hint at the nature of dark matter and possibly explain the origins of supermassive black holes.

—CNN : “Russia Proposes Joint Research Module on Space Station for China, India, Brazil and South Africa“

The head of Russia’s space agency has extended an offer to Moscow’s partners in the BRICS group – Brazil, India, China and South Africa – to participate in the construction of a joint module for its planned orbital space station, state media reported Monday. Construction of the planned space station follows Moscow’s decision last year to end its decades-long partnership with NASA and withdraw from the aging International Space Station – one of the last remaining channels of cooperation between Russia and the United States.

Space Stories: Rogue Exoplanets, ISS Power Problems, and Eco-Friendly Airlines

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of a rogue exoplanet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Space.com : “400 Earth-size Rogue Planets could be Wandering the Milky Way“

New predictions suggest an upcoming NASA space telescope could spot over 400 Earth-mass worlds hidden throughout the Milky Way that have “gone rogue” and therefore wander our galaxy alone.  Such orphan worlds are thought to start their lives in a planetary system, akin to the solar system, but get kicked at some point out by a mechanism thus far unknown. Despite the familiar picture of planets neatly orbiting a star, new research suggests such orphaned starless worlds may outnumber stars in the Milky Way by 20 to 1. This implies untethered worlds in our galaxy are around six times more common than planets orbiting parent stars. 

—ABC News : “NASA Power Outage Temporarily Halts Contact with Space Station“

A NASA power outage disrupted communication between Mission Control and the International Space Station on Tuesday. Mission Control couldn’t send commands to the station and talk with the seven astronauts in orbit. The power outage hit as upgrade work was underway in the building at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. Space station program manager Joel Montalbano said neither the astronauts nor station were ever in any danger and that backup control systems took over within 90 minutes. The crew was notified of the problem through Russian communication systems, within 20 minutes of the outage.

—GeekWire : “Boeing and NASA Partner with Alaska and Other Airlines on Eco-friendly X-66A Aircraft“

Boeing and NASA say they’ll collaborate with Seattle-based Alaska Airlines and four other major airlines on the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project, which aims to put Boeing’s innovative X-66 braced-wing aircraft design through flight tests in the 2028-2029 time frame. The X-66A makes use of a concept known as the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing, or TTBW, which features ultra-long, ultra-thin, drag-reducing wings that are stabilized by diagonal struts.