Russia seems to have lost contact with its first lunar probe in half a century

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Not wanting to jinx it by saying it loud, but I am still hoping for a nice and very energetic lithobraking manoeuvre from Luna 25. Just losing comms with it still being in the pre‑landing orbit would be kinda anti‑climatic!

That would serve them right, IMO. Although I am pretty sure TASS would still try to twist a high‑speed lithobraking crash event into a "very successful landing" somehow...
 
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Cthel

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This means that India is back in the lead to be the first soft landing at the Lunar South pole, right?
 
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EricBerger
EricBerger
I am kind of dubious about claims to be landing at the South Pole of the Moon. India's Moon lander will (fingers crossed!) softly touch down at 69.37 degrees south latitude. I'm not sure anyone would say that Sweden and Finland are near the North Pole of the Moon, but their territories go further north than 69 degrees latitude.
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TROPtastic

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I have never said this before about the failure of any nation's scientific endeavors, but...

good.

Until Putin is dead and Russia can act like a responsible global citizen, I hope everything they try to do crashes and burns.
Before 2022, I'd be sad. Now schadenfreude kicks in. The fewer successes Russia can show off (especially to their own citizens), the better.
Absolutely agreed. Russia is an ultranationalist state that has descended into fascism under Putin's rule. If a successful Luna 25 mission would provide fuel to Russia's nationalist forces and delay the ideological reckoning that must eventually appear (if Russia is to stop having imperialist and irredentist ambitions), then the mission must fail.

Too often people make the mistake of believing that science is always pure and faultless, when it can be intimately connected to the social and political goals of a sponsor country. That is the case here.
 
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Green RT

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Satellite tracker Scott Tilley noted that the country's ability to communicate with Luna 25 will be limited to when the Moon is visible over Russia. There are relatively few of these opportunities in the days ahead.
That seems very misleading. The moon is visible over Russia 12 hours per day, just like everywhere else in the world. Russia's lack of access to the US's Deep Space Network means they don't have 24 hour a day visibility, but I wouldn't call 12 hours a day "relatively few". Tilley's post was clear but the characterization of it in the article is misleading.
 
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llanitedave

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That seems very misleading. The moon is visible over Russia 12 hours per day, just like everywhere else in the world. Russia's lack of access to the US's Deep Space Network means they don't have 24 hour a day visibility, but I wouldn't call 12 hours a day "relatively few". Tilley's post was clear but the characterization of it in the article is misleading.
Given the longitudinal extent of Russia's territory, it should be closer to 18 hours a day. Their lack of tracking ability is no one else's fault but their own.
 
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Russia's first Lunar mission.

Calling the previous Soviet missions "Russian" is rather inaccurate, especially considering that most of the key people in the Soviet space program were Ukrainian.
This and this again!

Russia singlehandedly and quite neo‑colonialy appropriating all of the Soviet achievements that came out of CCCP's constituent nations is just so on par with their current propaganda.

Probably the best to call them "Muscovy", that's about right. High hopes here all their colonies break free soon, they surely deserve the last decolonisation that there is.
 
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llanitedave

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It seems obvious that luck (if luck even exists...there's no proof it does...reality may very well be a chain of totally random events) can't be manipulated - otherwise there would be how-to's on YouTube and everyone who watched them would be able to win the lottery, get the girl ánd live happily ever after, just to name some stuff.
You obviously don't watch enough You Tube.
 
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I don't know the exact IAU rules on naming topographic features on moons and planets, but if it ever crashes, can we please name the resulting small crater Zmiinyi? I'd definitely vote for that!

"Putin Khuilo crater" would work as well, but I think there might be some IAU rule about very offensive swearwords (i.e. "Putin")...
 
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EricBerger
I am kind of dubious about claims to be landing at the South Pole of the Moon. India's Moon lander will (fingers crossed!) softly touch down at 69.37 degrees south latitude. I'm not sure anyone would say that Sweden and Finland are near the North Pole of the Moon, but their territories go further north than 69 degrees latitude.

I assume you mean the north pole of the Earth?
 
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It seems obvious that luck (if luck even exists...there's no proof it does...reality may very well be a chain of totally random events) can't be manipulated - otherwise there would be how-to's on YouTube and everyone who watched them would be able to win the lottery, get the girl ánd live happily ever after, just to name some stuff.

Same for negatively manipulating luck known in the US as "jinxing" ..if that was a real thing for example many if not all institutions would employ battalions of jinxers to mess with perceived enemies' luck etc.
Still, in spite of what logic and experience dictate these superstitions remain véry popular.
Interesting creatures, humans. :)
Well, seeing how the war has gone for Russia, there might be some evidence for a military Jinxing department...

Screenshot_2023-08-19-22-47-40-50_3aea4af51f236e4932235fdada7d1643.jpg
 
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f00barbob

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