The craft was supposed to be the first to land on the Moon’s south pole, but it failed due to issues encountered as it went into its pre-landing orbit.
It was designed to study a region of the Moon where scientists believe there may be frozen water and rare materials.
Roscosmos, Russia’s official space company, announced on Sunday morning that the Luna-25 had lost contact just after 14:57pm (11:57 GMT) on Saturday.
According to preliminary findings, the 800kg lander “ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon,” according to a statement.
It stated that a special commission would investigate why the operation failed.
Roscosmos has suffered a setback with the loss of Luna-25. Russia’s civilian space program has been declining for several years, as state financing has shifted more toward the military.
Russia was racing against India to the Moon’s south pole, where the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft would land in the coming days and dispatch a rover to investigate the rocks and craters, taking data and photographs to relay back to Earth.
Parts of the Moon’s south pole are permanently in darkness, making water discovery possible.
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The crash of the Luna-25 was regarded as “unfortunate” by an Isro representative.
“Every space mission is extremely dangerous and technically demanding.” “It’s a shame that Luna-25 crashed,” they told the BBC.
Roscosmos had admitted that the Luna-25 mission was dangerous and could fail. On August 11, the spaceship launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s far eastern Amur region, and it successfully entered the moon’s orbit on Wednesday of this week.
It was scheduled to make history by landing softly on Monday or Tuesday, only days before the Indian touchdown.
No country has ever landed on the Moon’s south pole, while the United States and China have both landed softly on the Moon’s surface.
Luna-25 was Russia’s first Moon mission since joining the Soviet Union in 1976. That mission, Luna-24, was a success.
