'Emergency situation' at Luna-25, will India's Chandrayaan-3 race past Russian spacecraft?

The Russian space agency Saturday reported an 'emergency situation' on its moon-bound Luna-25 spacecraft above the lunar surface. The spacecraft, launched earlier this month, ran into unspecified technical glitch while trying to enter a pre-landing orbit, the country's space agency Roscosmos said. Specialists are analysing the situation.

"Today, in accordance with the flight program, at 14:10 Moscow time, the automatic station Luna-25 gave an impulse to transfer to the pre-landing orbit. During the operation, an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the manoeuvre to be performed with the specified parameters," said Roscosmos, according to a translated statement.

The Russian space agency denied specifying whether the sudden abnormal situation in the Luna-25 spacecraft will prevent it from making a landing on the moon's surface. It's scheduled to land on the moon's south pole on Monday, August 21, ahead of India's Chandrayaan-3, which is expected to soft-land on August 23. 

The moon's south pole is considered a treasure trove of scientific information. Scientists, by studying the geological features, rock formations, and impact craters in the area can gain insights into the Moon's formation, early evolution, and the impacts it has endured over billions of years. 

The Luna-25 spacecraft was launched from Russia's Vostochny spaceport in the Far East on August 10 and was Russia's first since 1976. 

Chandryaan-3 aces final deboosting

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday said it successfully lowered the orbit of the Chandrayaan-3 mission's Lander Module (LM), bringing it nearer to the moon. The national space agency also said that the LM would now undergo internal checks. The LM which comprises the lander ‘Vikram' and rover ‘Pragyan’, is expected to touch down on the lunar surface on August 23 evening. 

ISRO, on Sunday morning, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said, "The second and final deboosting (slowing down) operation has successfully reduced the LM orbit to 25 km x 134 km. The module would undergo internal checks and await the sun-rise at the designated landing site. The powered descent is expected to commence on August 23, 2023, around 1745 Hrs IST." In a significant feat, the LM of Chandrayaan-3 successfully separated from the Propulsion Module on Thursday, 35 days after the mission was launched on July 14.