Russia has reported the Luna-25 spacecraft that had been launched earlier this month has collided with the moon.
“The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” Roscosmos said in a statement on Sunday.
The autonomous robot lander fell after spinning out of control, according to a report published on Sunday by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
It follows the nation’s reporting of a “abnormal situation” that its experts were investigating on Saturday.
After over 50 years, the nation finally sent a mission to the lunar surface.
After touching down on the south pole of the moon, Russia had planned that the robot would spend a year gathering samples of rock and dust.
The space firm said, however, that it had lost communication with the vehicle after it encountered unknown difficulties as it was preparing for the pre-landing orbit.
Scientists are particularly interested in the lunar south pole because they think water may be present in the continuously shadowed craters.
Longer human journeys would be possible if the frozen water in the rocks could be converted into air and rocket fuel.
The region has never truly been explored by any country.
India, Russia’s adversary, was in a race to complete the ambitious lunar landing after launching Chandrayaan-3 last month.
Roscosmos has been eager to establish itself as a “space superpower” ever since the invasion of Ukraine caused its scientists to lose access to advanced Western technologies.
