Express View on Luna-25 : After the crash-landing
The crash-landing of Luna-25, the Russian spacecraft that was scheduled to reach the moon a couple of days ahead of India’s Chandrayaan-3, is a grim reminder of the uncertainties involved in making a landing on extra-terrestrial surfaces. In the last four years, spacecraft from four different countries have tried to land on the moon, and failed. For each one of these countries — Israel, India, Japan and Russia — it was the first attempt to land on the moon. Each one of them failed in the last stage, just ahead of, or during, the process of landing. It may have sounded alarmist then, but former ISRO chairman K Sivan’s “15 minutes of terror” remark in the context of the Chandrayaan-2 mission was a realistic description of the final stages of a moon landing.
In a sense, the name Luna-25 was misleading. It would be erroneous to think that this particular mission was a continuation of the Luna series of moon probes launched by the then Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s. The current round of moon missions are drastically different from those that were sent off half a century ago. The technology and materials are new, the fuel is new, and even the purpose and motivation is very different. It is no surprise, then, that when countries resumed their interest in going to the moon in this century, they began almost from scratch, with the Orbiter missions.
Failure is not alien to space agencies. Every space-faring nation has suffered reverses and setbacks. And they have been able to pick up the pieces and accomplish spectacular missions. That is how science, in general, has also progressed. Failures have been stepping stones to much bigger successes. The failure of Luna-25 has paved the way for Chandrayaan-3 to become the first spacecraft to land around the polar region of the moon. But it is more likely that ISRO would be “feeling” for Roscosmos, having experienced this disappointment with Chandrayaan-2. It would itself be feeling anxious as the landing day comes nearer. Chandrayaan-3 has been bolstered with a number of safety improvements to prevent an accident like last time. But however good the preparation is, there can be no comfort or complacency till the examination is passed.