The accident at the Luna-25 automatic space station in 2023 is not a systematic fundamental error, but a work-related misunderstanding, as is often the case in the space industry.
This opinion was expressed to TASS by the director of the Institute of Space Research (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, scientific director of the first stage of the lunar program, academician Green Lion.
He explained that this incident was the same misunderstanding as the incident with Luna 1, which passed close to Earth’s natural satellite in 1959.
“This is not a fundamental systematic error, it is an incomplete verification of the communication between the different systems of the device.” – said the scientist.
His explanations show that when the order was given to shut down the second stage engine, the time it took for the signal to reach the vehicle, which was located at a considerable distance from the planet, was not taken into account.
The result of this failure was that the spacecraft ended up flying past the Moon at a distance of about 6 thousand kilometers. At the same time, the loss of Luna-1 was not in vain: ion traps installed on the spacecraft for the first time revealed streams of hot plasma, now called solar wind.
“It was a real experimental discovery. In theory, this was predicted by the recently deceased great American scientist Eugene Parker.” – said the academic.
He also noted that Luna-1 also acted as an “artificial comet,” which was also a great achievement for space researchers.
Recall that on August 11, 2023, Roscosmos launched the Luna-25 mission to the Moon; the launch took place from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur Region;
As reported EADailyLuna-25 was supposed to study the south pole of the natural satellite of the Earth’s cosmic body. On August 19, an emergency occurred on the device; the next day, Roscosmos reported that Luna-25 had crashed.
In connection with the Luna-25 accident, Roscosmos is considering an earlier launch of the next two missions. The Russian Academy of Sciences proposed to manufacture and launch two Luna-27 spacecraft, and not one “for the reliability” of the lunar mission.
