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Despite Luna-25 spacecraft crash, China expected to continue working with Russia in race for moon base

  • Robotic probe was the first in a series of Russian missions planned as part of ILRS project but spun out of control and collided with the lunar surface on Saturday
  • Stakes now high for India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission which aims to land this week at a similar latitude as the Luna-25 plan

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On August 11, Russia’s Luna-25 launches from Vostochny Cosmodrome. The spacecraft reported an “emergency situation on board” before contact was lost and it “ceased to exist”, Roscosmos said on Saturday. Photo: Roscosmos
Ling Xinin Ohio
Despite its Luna-25 spacecraft crashing, Russia will probably remain China’s major partner to build a base on the moon, although the setback may see the US-led Artemis programme get ahead on its own base project, a space policy researcher says.
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Russia’s robotic probe, which was scheduled to touch down in the lunar south pole region early this week, encountered an engine failure during Saturday’s manoeuvre to lower its orbit ready for the landing, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos Yury Borisov told state media on Monday.

“Instead of the planned 84 seconds, the engine worked for 127 seconds. This was the main cause of the spacecraft’s crash,” Borisov said told Russia-24, in an interview which was shared by Roscosmos.

Luna-25 was the first in a series of Russian missions planned as part of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a project initiated by China and Russia to build a base at the lunar south pole by the mid-2030s with the aim of using the rich water-ice resources there for long-term exploration and settlement.

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Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years fails as spacecraft Luna-25 crashes into the moon’s surface

Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years fails as spacecraft Luna-25 crashes into the moon’s surface

On Monday, when asked if China still saw Russia as a key partner after the failed mission, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the ILRS was “open to all interested parties”, and that China would always “push for extensive international cooperation” under the principles of joint substantiation, joint development and data sharing.

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