NASA spacecraft spots new crater on Moon’s surface likely from Russia’s Luna 25 impact

 

Gif Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured images of a new crater on the Moon's surface believed to be the crash site of Russia's Luna 25 - a lunar lander mission that launched on 10 August 2023 to land on the Moon's south polar region.

The Russian space agency Roscosmos launched Luna 25 on a Soyuz-2 Fregat from Vostochny Cosmodrome. Unfortunately, the spacecraft experienced an anomaly on August 19, causing it to impact into the southwest rim of Pontécoulant G crater on the Moon.

The impact has now been pinpointed, thanks to LRO's advanced imaging capabilities.LRO started observing the site at 2:15 p.m. EDT (18:15 UTC) on August 24 and completed the observation about four hours later. The LRO Camera and the LRO Mission Operations teams compared images taken prior to the impact time and the sequence taken after and discovered a small new crater, which is about 10 meters in diameter.

The proximity of the new crater to Luna 25 estimated impact point suggests that it is likely from the mission rather than being a result of a natural impactor.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged a new crater on the Moon’s surface that is likely the impact site of Russia's Luna 25 mission, which experienced an anomaly that caused it to impact the Moon on Aug. 19. https://t.co/PWS0zuI6WN pic.twitter.com/1XGpA5WRC5

— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) September 1, 2023

Luna 25 would be at the lunar south pole if it had made a successful landing. The lander was designed to study the surface regolith and exospheric dust and particles, for around one year.