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Probe into causes of Luna-25 crash will be completed by end of September — Roscosmos

According to the head of Roscosmos, the accident occurred mainly because the device’s correction engine did not stop operating based on information from the accelerometer showing a change in speed

BAIKONUR /Kazakhstan/, September 16. /TASS/. Investigation into causes of the crash of the Luna-25 mission will be completed by the end of September, Yuri Borisov head of Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos, announced on Friday.

"I think that somewhere at the end of September we will complete the work and report about the main causes to the public," Borisov said at a press conference.

According to the head of Roscosmos, the accident occurred mainly because the device’s correction engine did not stop operating based on information from the accelerometer showing a change in speed. "We are investigating in detail why [the accelerometer] did not turn on. We have 16 versions, we have already checked 11," he noted.

The Soyuz-2.16 carrier rocket with the Luna-25 lunar lander took off from Vostochny spaceport on August 11. The automatic station entered the near-Moon orbit on August 16. All contact with Luna-25 was lost on August 19. According to preliminary calculations, Luna-25 ceased to exist having collided with the Moon’s surface.

Later on, Roscosmos Head Yury Borisov said that a special commission had begun investigation into the accident. According to him, an engine breakdown is the main cause behind the crash.