The final resting position of the damaged Russian lunar module Luna-25 has been found.
Luna-25, the first Russian lunar probe in 47 years, crashed into the lunar surface on Aug. 19 in a maneuver to prepare for its landing attempt a few days later.
The accident blew up a crater, which NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) likely discovered last week, company officials said.
Related: Russian Luna-25 lunar lander crashes into moon
LRO administrators went in search of Luna-25’s tomb, employing an estimated impact at the site provided through Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
The LRO team photographed the domain with the probe’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LROC) camera on Aug. 24, then compared the new images with photographs of the same region captured in the past via LROC, most recently in June 2022. These paintings revealed a bright and new crater image on the moon that has been excavated over the past 14 months.
“Since this new crater is close to the estimated impact point of Luna-25, the LRO team concludes that it most likely originated from this project and not from a natural impact,” NASA officials said in a statement today (Aug. 31). To find.
The new crater is about 10 meters wide and lies at about 58 degrees south latitude, on the steep inner rim of the moon’s Pontécoulant G crater, he added. The impact at the site is approximately 400 kilometers from the planned landing site of Luna-25. which is at 69. 5 degrees south latitude.
— Russia launches Luna-25 lunar lander, its first lunar probe in years
— Russia’s Luna-25 lunar lander takes the first pictures of (photos)
— Missions to the Moon: past, present and future
Luna-25 was unveiled on August 10, kicking off Russia’s first lunar project since 1976, when the country was still part of the Soviet Union. The name of the new project is an attempt to remember those proud days past; The 1976 effort, a successful project, called Luna-24.
Luna-25 targeted the first probe to land softly near the moon’s south pole, a region considered rich in water ice that could potentially host human outposts.
But its failure ceded this task to Chandrayaan-3, an Indian project presented on July 14 and which effectively landed on August 23. Chandrayaan-3 is still exploring its polar site with a lander and a small rover, designed to operate for a total of one lunar day, or about 14 Earth days. At the end of this period, the lunar night put both robots out of commission.
Join our regional forums to keep talking about the area, the newest missions, the night sky, and more!And if you have any advice, correction or comments, let us know at: community@area. com.
Michael Wall is a senior Space. com official and joined the team in 2010. He mainly covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but is known for delving into the realm of space art. His book on the search for extraterrestrial life, “Out There,” was published on November 13, 2018. Before turning to science, Michael Array worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. She holds a PhD in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in clinical writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest assignment is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.
SpaceX spacecraft engine key to Artemis 3 moon landing project (video)
Germany NASA Artemis Agreements for Moon Exploration
Are we about to see a rare green comet light up the sky?Expert explains what to expect from Comet Nishimura
Space is from Future US Inc. , a leading foreign media organization and virtual publisher. Visit our corporate website.