A pair of Indian and Russian probes approach the Moon
Both are looking for ice; one will mark a spacefaring first
Update: On August 19th Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, lost contact with Luna 25 after an orbital manoeuvre. In a statement on August 20th it announced that “a deviation between the actual and calculated parameters of the propulsion manoeuvre led the Luna 25 spacecraft to enter an undesignated orbit and it ceased to exist following a collision with the surface of the Moon.” India’s Chandrayaan-3 is still scheduled to attempt its landing on August 23rd.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “The second shall be first”
From the August 19th 2023 edition
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