S02E37: Lunar Highs & Lows: Russia's Mishap and India's Triumph

[00:00:00] Good day everybody and welcome to Astronomy Daily for Thursday the 24th of August 2023. My name is Tim Gibbs and I will be your host for today's episode. And yes, another midweek episode we must be spoiling our listeners.

[00:00:24] As usual I have my digital AI assistant Hallie here in the studio with me and Hallie has got a follow-on story from something that Steve and I did earlier in the week on the Lunar 25 mission. So Hallie, over to you for an update.

[00:00:40] Hi Tim, yes I do. The following story is being reported by a number of national newspapers in the UK including the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Independent. Russian astronomer who advised Putin's failed Lunar 25 mission to the moon is rushed to

[00:00:56] hospital over sharp deterioration in his health after unmanned spacecraft crashed. Mikhail Morov, 90, who was described as a key consultant to the mission, suffered a sharp deterioration in his health following the crash. The Lunar 25 unmanned space vessel

[00:01:13] spanned out of control and crashed into the surface of the moon on August 19th during Russia's first lunar expedition in 47 years. Morov's health condition arose after he called for an investigation into the expedition's failure. Russian sources are already blaming endemic corruption inside the country's space agency

[00:01:31] for the failure of the mission. The Lunar 25 expedition's failure is now expected to trigger a blame game, which is in turn expected to see Putin fire those he holds responsible for Russia's humiliation. Professor Morov, an ardent proponent for the moon mission, was devastated by the

[00:01:47] failed landing and made clear this was the reason for his sudden hospitalization in Moscow's elite central clinical hospital, TSKB. The Russian professor is a giant of spaceship design and an expert on Mars, Venus, and the moon. He made clear Lunar 25 was his last hope to see the

[00:02:05] revival of our lunar program and this was now dashed. It's sad that we didn't manage to land the device, he said. He is now calling for a full transparency as to the reasons the Lunar 25 expedition ended in failure. There was a mistake in the algorithms for launching into

[00:02:21] near lunar orbit, he said. It must be found. For the specialists who will be involved in the work of the commission, this will not be a big problem. I think the answer will be found in the foreseeable future. From hospital Morov, a Soviet aerospace giant, told reporters,

[00:02:38] I am under observation. How can I not worry? This has been very much a matter of my life. It's all very hard. Professor Morov called for Russia to continue with its efforts to go into

[00:02:52] space and land on the moon. Yuri Borisov, a Putin-Moylist and ex-deputy premier who is now at the helm of the Russian Space Agency, could now see his future in the agency put in jeopardy Mr. Borisov is accused of ending probes into corruption and misuse of budgets at the

[00:03:07] Space Agency. And now back to you, Tim. Thanks for that, Halle. Some interesting developments, I feel. Now just to follow on from that a little bit, here is a direct quote from the Daily Mail article. Roscosmos director general Yuri Borisov was dragged onto state TV yesterday to explain

[00:03:26] Vladimir Putin's latest failure and blame the country's decades-long pause in lunar exploration for the mishap. Mr. Borisov also stated that the spacecraft's engines were turned on over the weekend to put the lunar-25 into a pre-landing orbit, but did not shut down properly, plunging the

[00:03:45] lander onto the moon. Instead of the planned 84 seconds, it worked for 127 seconds. This was the main reason for the emergency, Mr. Borisov told Russian state news channel Russia 24. The negative experience of interrupting the lunar program for almost 50 years is the main

[00:04:05] reason for the failure, Mr. Borisov said, adding it would be the worst decision ever for Russia to end the program now. Following the crash, the Russian Space Agency said the moon mission was all about ensuring long-term defence capability as well as technology sovereignty.

[00:04:23] The race to develop the moon's natural resources has begun, Mr. Borisov said. This accident also comes as Russia's $2 trillion economy faces its biggest external challenges for decades, the pressure of both Western sanctions and fighting the biggest land war in Europe since World War II. The Astronomy Daily podcast.

[00:04:45] And before we go Tim, congratulations to the ISRO and the Shandrayan three team on a stunning success. India has become the fourth country in history to successfully land a robotic spacecraft on the moon. The country's Vikram lander, part of the Shandrayana three mission,

[00:05:01] touchdown near the lunar south pole on Wednesday, August 23rd at 8 33 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time 12 33 GMT 603 p.m. Indian Standard Time or IST. India has now joined Russia, the United States and China as the only nations to have reached the moon's surface.

[00:05:19] This achievement marks a significant step forward for Indian science, engineering, technology and industry symbolizing our nation's progress in space exploration officials at the Indian Space Research Organization ISRO said in a statement. And of course we'll have more

[00:05:34] detail for you in tomorrow's show. See you then. The Astronomy Daily podcast. Unfortunately that's all we've got time for this Wednesday. Thank you very much for listening. Catch us as usual for a full show on Friday and a full show on Monday. Thank you very much everybody.

[00:05:53] Bye bye for now.