Russia’s failed attempt to land its Luna-25 spacecraft on the south pole of the moon has left a 10-meter-wide crater on the lunar surface, according to the US space agency NASA. Luna-25 crashed into the moon’s surface after entering an unintended orbit and spiraling out of control. NASA made these revelations through its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which shared images of a new crater on the moon’s surface.
LRO’s most recent ‘before’ image of the area was taken in June 2022, so the crater 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 likely comes from that mission and not from a natural impactor.
NASA said 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 minus 360 meters. “Since this new crater is close to Luna-25’s estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes it likely originated from that mission, and not from a natural impactor,” the space agency said, according to Reuters.
What caused Luna-25 to crash?
Luna-25 was Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years, and its failure highlights the post-Soviet decline of its mighty space program. The Russian space agency Roscosmos has formed a special interdepartmental commission to investigate the Luna-25 crash and find out the reasons behind the lunar mission’s failure.
The head of Roscomos spoke about the reasons behind the crash, explaining that the spacecraft’s engines had been activated to place Luna-25 in pre-landing orbit. These engines were not shut down as planned, leading to an uncontrolled descent of the lander onto the lunar surface.
“The negative experience of interrupting the lunar program for nearly 50 years is the main reason for the failures,” said Roscosmos director general Yury Borisov.
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Updated: September 1, 2023, 4:40 PM IST