According to officials, the unmanned Russian spacecraft Luna-25 was unable to regain control of its spin and ended up crashing into the Moon.
It had been over half a century since Russia's last expedition to the Moon.
The spacecraft was supposed to be the first ever to land on the south pole of the Moon, but it was unable to do so due to difficulties that it encountered as it went into its pre-landing orbit.
It had been programmed to investigate a region of the Moon that scientists believe may contain frozen water and valuable components.
Roscosmos, the official space enterprise of Russia, announced early Sunday morning that it had lost touch with the Luna-25 at some point on Saturday afternoon, about 14:57 local time (11:57 GMT).
According to a statement released by the company, preliminary investigations revealed that the 800 kilogram lander had "ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon."
It was stated that a special commission will investigate the reasons why the mission was unsuccessful.
Roscosmos has suffered a setback with the loss of Luna-25. The Russian government's civilian space program has been seeing a steady decrease over the past few years as more funding from the state has been allocated to the country's military space program.
India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is set to land on the moon's south pole in the coming days. Once there, it will dispatch a rover to explore the moon's rocks and craters, collecting data and photographs to transmit back to Earth. Russia was competing with India to be the first country to reach the moon's south pole.
The constant shadow cast by the Moon's south pole on such portions of its surface increases the likelihood of the presence of liquid water there.
Historic India as seen by Chandrayaan-3 New photographs of the lunar surface have been sent by the moon mission.
The nations that will send astronauts to the Moon and beyond in the year 2023.
Who will emerge victorious in the competition between Russia and India to reach the lunar South Pole first?
The loss of the Luna-25 spacecraft was termed as "unfortunate" by a representative for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
"Every single space mission is fraught with peril and requires a high level of technological expertise. They expressed their regret to the BBC about the loss of the Luna-25 spacecraft.
Roscosmos admitted that the Luna-25 mission was fraught with danger and had a chance of being unsuccessful. The spacecraft was launched on August 11 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, which is located in the far eastern Amur region of Russia. On Wednesday of this week, the spacecraft was able to successfully enter the orbit of the moon.
Just a few days before the Indian touchdown, it was anticipated that it would make history by performing a successful soft landing on Monday or Tuesday.
Although both the United States and China have successfully touched down on the Moon's surface, no nation has yet managed to touch down on the south pole of the Moon.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia embarked on its first mission to the Moon in 1976 with the Luna-25 probe. That mission, known as Luna-24, was successful in landing.
It had been over half a century since Russia's last expedition to the Moon.
The spacecraft was supposed to be the first ever to land on the south pole of the Moon, but it was unable to do so due to difficulties that it encountered as it went into its pre-landing orbit.
It had been programmed to investigate a region of the Moon that scientists believe may contain frozen water and valuable components.
Roscosmos, the official space enterprise of Russia, announced early Sunday morning that it had lost touch with the Luna-25 at some point on Saturday afternoon, about 14:57 local time (11:57 GMT).
According to a statement released by the company, preliminary investigations revealed that the 800 kilogram lander had "ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon."
It was stated that a special commission will investigate the reasons why the mission was unsuccessful.
Roscosmos has suffered a setback with the loss of Luna-25. The Russian government's civilian space program has been seeing a steady decrease over the past few years as more funding from the state has been allocated to the country's military space program.
India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is set to land on the moon's south pole in the coming days. Once there, it will dispatch a rover to explore the moon's rocks and craters, collecting data and photographs to transmit back to Earth. Russia was competing with India to be the first country to reach the moon's south pole.
The constant shadow cast by the Moon's south pole on such portions of its surface increases the likelihood of the presence of liquid water there.
Historic India as seen by Chandrayaan-3 New photographs of the lunar surface have been sent by the moon mission.
The nations that will send astronauts to the Moon and beyond in the year 2023.
Who will emerge victorious in the competition between Russia and India to reach the lunar South Pole first?
The loss of the Luna-25 spacecraft was termed as "unfortunate" by a representative for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
"Every single space mission is fraught with peril and requires a high level of technological expertise. They expressed their regret to the BBC about the loss of the Luna-25 spacecraft.
Roscosmos admitted that the Luna-25 mission was fraught with danger and had a chance of being unsuccessful. The spacecraft was launched on August 11 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, which is located in the far eastern Amur region of Russia. On Wednesday of this week, the spacecraft was able to successfully enter the orbit of the moon.
Just a few days before the Indian touchdown, it was anticipated that it would make history by performing a successful soft landing on Monday or Tuesday.
Although both the United States and China have successfully touched down on the Moon's surface, no nation has yet managed to touch down on the south pole of the Moon.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia embarked on its first mission to the Moon in 1976 with the Luna-25 probe. That mission, known as Luna-24, was successful in landing.
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