CNN Indonesia
Saturday, 02 Sep 2023 10:53 WIB
The location on the Moon is thought to be where the Russian Luna-25 crashed. (NASA)
Jakarta, CNNIndonesia —
United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) found a Russian spacecraft that had crashed on the Moon, Luna-25.
Luna-25 is Russia’s first lunar probe launched in 47 years. The probe crashed into the lunar surface on Aug. 19, in a maneuver designed to prepare for the landing a few days later.
A NASA official said the impact created a crater, which NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) likely discovered last week.
LRO officers searched Luna-25’s grave using the estimated crash site provided by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
The LRO team photographed the area with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) on August 24, then compared the new photos with previous photos of the area taken in June 2022.
The results of this study indicate that there is a bright new crater on the newly visible moon.
“Because this new crater is close to the estimated impact point of Luna-25, the LRO team concluded that the crater most likely originated from the mission, not from a natural impactor,” NASA officials said in a statement. statementThursday (31/8).
The new crater is about 10 meters wide and is located at about 58 degrees south latitude, on the steep inner edge of the Pontécoulant G crater on the moon.
The impact site is approximately 400 kilometers from the planned Luna-25 landing site, which is located at 69.5 degrees south latitude.
Luna-25 was launched on Aug. 10, marking Russia’s first mission to the moon since 1976, when the country was still part of the Soviet Union.
The new mission name is an attempt to recall the proud days of the 1976 attempt, a successful sample return mission named Luna-24.
Luna-25 aims to be the first probe to gently land near the Moon’s south pole, a region thought to be rich in water ice potentially sustaining human life.
However, its failure resulted in Chandrayaan-3, India’s mission which was launched on July 14, to land successfully on August 23, as quoted from Space.
Chandrayaan-3 is still exploring the location of the moon’s north pole with the lander and small rover, which is designed to operate for one lunar day, or about 14 Earth days.
(can/arh)
2023-09-02 03:53:00
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