2023-09-01 17:58:41
NASA released Thursday night the first image of a new crater on the moon, probably formed by the impact of the Russian probe Luna-25, which crashed into the surface of the Earth’s satellite two weeks ago. The photograph was taken by the LRO probe (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in English), which has been orbiting the Moon since 2009.
As reported by NASA, the most recent previous image of the area was taken in June 2022; thus the crater formed sometime after that date. Given the this new crater is near the estimated point of impact from Luna-25, the LRO team concludes that “it is likely that it came from that mission, and not from a natural projectile.”
The new crater is about 10 meters in diameter and is located at 57.865 degrees south latitude and 61.360 degrees east longitude, at an elevation of about 360 meters below zero. The impact point was on the inner rim of Pontécoulant G crater, about 400 kilometers from Luna 25’s intended landing site, at 69.545 degrees south and 43.544 degrees east.
Photograph from June 27 / Photograph of the crater from August 24 NASA
Almost fifty years after Moscow’s last successful lunar mission, the nearly 800-kilogram Luna-25 probe, crashed into the lunar surface on August 19 after an incident during a pre-moon landing maneuver. She considered herself the heir to Luna-24, the last Soviet spacecraft to reach the satellite, which returned a sample of lunar soil in 1976.
Just days after the accident, India became the first nation to land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole, an unexplored area that is now the focus of all attention as it harbors water in the form of ice.
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