Russia Fails to Defeat India, Luna-25 Mission Suddenly Crashes into the Moon

JAKARTA - The Luna-25 spacecraft belonging to the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) failed while trying to land on the Moon.

"Luna-25 no longer exists as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon," said Roscosmos in his confirmation, which had lost contact with the spacecraft since Saturday, at 14.57 local time.

The incident occurred because Luna-25 went out of control while moving into its pre-landing orbit. Currently, Roscosmos is still investigating the incident.

If Luna-25 is successful, it will be the first to land on the south pole of the Moon and the first Russian mission in nearly 50 years.

However, the loss of Luna-25 is a serious blow to Roscosmos, which is currently racing to beat India's Chandrayaan-3 mission to land on the Moon.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said on its official X account that Chandrayaan-3 will land alone on the Moon on August 23.

Just like Luna-25, Chandrayaan-3 plans to land on the south pole of the Moon, an area covered by ice.

With the failure of Luna-25, it means that Chandrayaan-3 will be the first to get there, as quoted by BBC International and The Verge, Monday, August 21.

For your information, analysis of ice will lead to further research into how water appears on the surface of Earth's natural satellite and whether this process is related to the appearance of water on Earth.

The research will also help determine whether the Moon formed independently, or was blown apart from Earth by an extraterrestrial impact.