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Russian researchers determine location, time of Luna-25 crash

It is estimated that the spacecraft fell into the 42-kilometer Pontecoulant G crater in the southern hemisphere of the moon at 2:58 p.m. Moscow time on August 19

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. Researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics have simulated the trajectory of the Luna-25 mission, figuring out where and when it crashed into the moon’s surface, the institute said in a statement on Telegram.

"The mathematical modeling of the trajectory of the Luna-25 spacecraft, carried out by experts from the Ballistic Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, made it possible to determine the time and place of its collision with the moon," the statement reads.

According to the institute, the spacecraft fell into the 42-kilometer Pontecoulant G crater in the southern hemisphere of the moon at 2:58 p.m. Moscow time on August 19.

Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Corporation reported earlier that according to preliminary calculations, the Luna-25 automatic station had crashed into the moon’s surface and ceased to exist. Earlier, the spacecraft had received an impulse to activate its pre-landing elliptical orbit. About 2:57 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday, communication with the lunar lander was lost.

The Soyuz-2.1b vehicle carrying the Luna-25 autonomous probe was launched from the Vostochny spaceport on August 11. The spacecraft adjusted its flight path twice on August 12 and 14. The unmanned probe entered near-lunar orbit on Wednesday, August 16, and was scheduled to land on the surface of the moon on August 21.

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