Russia’s space agency said in a social media post that the issue occurred while its Luna 25 lander was completing a maneuver to put it on course for its touchdown.
The Luna 25 spacecraft reported an “emergency situation on board,” Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, said on Saturday.
An incident occurred as the spacecraft was trying to enter a pre-landing orbit, according to Roscosmos.
“During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters,” Roscosmos said in a Telegram post.
For those wondering, and who didn't read the article:
It’s not yet clear if the issue will prevent the lunar lander, which was slated to land near the moon’s south pole as soon as Monday, from attempting a touchdown.
The Russian Lander approches the lunar surface. Pieces of it are rattling and shaking as it makes it way in. Huge chunks of paint have fallen off, revealing the skin of a Lebedenko Tank underneath and a Jerry-rigged Ukrainian toilet
Russian Government:
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We have lost contact with the greatest lander ever made. This is obviously the handmarks of Westren jealousy."
From what I remember, there's a very heavy emphasis on engineering in Russia, and they produce more engineers than any other country. They may have some brain drain, but plenty to spare.
While roscosmos has been a bit of a powerhouse for ISS missions they seem to have difficulty with missions beyond GEO. I hope they are able to land successfully but I wouldn't be betting on it.
And that’s a US mission for clarity of those who don’t follow this topic closely. China also has planned a manned mission to the moon by the end of the decade and all of these countries (India, Russia, US and China) are all targeting the Moon’s south pole which is much more treacherous in terms of geographic features than previous Moon missions. The south pole has frozen water deposits and the eventual goal is to use this area as a refueling station for exploration further out into the solar system. Pretty exciting times!