NASALRO has photographed a new lunar crater, believed to be the impact site of Russia’s Luna 25 mission, which deviated from its planned landing site due to a descent anomaly.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has photographed a new crater on the moon’s surface, the likely impact site of Russia’s Luna 25 mission.
Luna 25 experienced an anomaly during its descent and crashed into the moon’s surface on August 19.
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency released an estimate of the impact point on August 21st. The LROC (short for LRO camera) team and the LRO mission operations team were able to send commands to the LRO spacecraft on August 22 to capture images of the impact point. site.The sequence began on August 24 at 2:15 p.m. EDT (18:15 UTC) and completed approximately 4 hours later at 6:12 PM EDT (22:12 UTC). The LROC team compared images taken before the impact with images taken after the impact and discovered a new, smaller crater.
The most recent “previous” image of this region by LRO was taken in June 2022 (frame number M1410024427R). Therefore, the crater was formed some time after that date. Because this new crater is close to Luna 25’s estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes that it is likely the result of that mission rather than a natural impactor.
The new crater is approximately 10 meters in diameter, located at 57.865 degrees south latitude, 61.360 degrees east longitude, and approximately -360 meters above sea level. The impact point was on the steep inner edge of the Pontecoulin G crater (more than 20 degrees slope), approximately 400 kilometers short of Luna 25’s planned landing point at 69.545 degrees south latitude and 43.544 degrees east longitude.
Luna 25 (also known as Luna Glob Lander) is a Russian lunar lander mission that launched on August 10, 2023. The target was the South Pole region of the Moon. The mission has two main scientific objectives. One is to study the composition of polar regolith; the other is to study the composition of polar regolith. plasma Dust composition in the moon’s polar exosphere. Communications were lost on August 19, and the lander reportedly crashed to the surface.
Luna 25 launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome on August 10, 2023 at 23:10 UTC (7:10 p.m. EDT, 2:10 a.m. Moscow time on August 11). The Soyuz 2 Fregat was launched into Earth orbit. After that, the Fregat upper stage was ignited again and inserted into the lunar transfer orbit. It reached the moon at 8:57 a.m. (UTC) on August 16, started its engines, and entered lunar orbit. The engine was started at 11:10 a.m. (UTC) on August 19 in order to enter orbit before landing, but communications were lost at 11:57 U.T. It is reported that it crashed on the moon’s surface, and a crater believed to be the crash site has been confirmed on the inner rim of the Pontecoulin G crater at 57.865 degrees south latitude and 61.360 degrees east longitude.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a robotic spacecraft that orbits the Moon. Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO’s primary purpose is to map the lunar surface in detail and provide a comprehensive data set to help plan future lunar missions. Key points about LRO are:
- Mapping and surface analysis: LRO has played a pivotal role in creating the most detailed map of the lunar surface ever. They identified safe landing sites, located potential resources on the Moon, and analyzed the Moon’s radiation environment.
- musical instrument: The LRO carries a range of equipment, each designed for a specific task. These include the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) to capture high-resolution images of the lunar surface, the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) to map the lunar topography, and other instruments for thermal mapping, radiation measurements, etc. Masu.
- moon water and ice: Among its many discoveries, LRO provided data suggesting the presence of water ice at the moon’s poles, particularly in permanently shadowed regions. This has implications for future lunar exploration and the potential for in situ resource utilization.
- Mission evolution: LRO’s main mission was expected to last about a year after launch, but its success led to multiple mission extensions. This has allowed us to continue providing valuable data for over 10 years.
- Support future missions: By identifying potential landing sites and hazards, LRO data can help plan future manned and unmanned missions to the Moon, including NASA’s Artemis program aimed at returning humans to the Moon. Extremely important.
In summary, LRO has played an important role in deepening our understanding of the Moon and preparing for future lunar exploration efforts.