Sep 02, 2023 at 3:34 PM Update: an hour ago
NASA has discovered a new crater in the moon. The US space agency states that the crater was most likely caused by a Russian lunar lander crashing into the moon.
The Russian lunar craft Luna-25 crashed into the moon on August 19. NASA took satellite images of that same moon on August 24 via the LRO spacecraft. Compared to previous photos from June last year, NASA discovered a new small crater.
After investigation, the LRO team concludes that the crater was most likely caused by the crash of the Russian Luna-25. A natural cause seems unlikely.
The crater is 10 meters in diameter. The NASA investigation shows that the crater is about 400 kilometers away from where the Russian lunar lander should actually land.
Engines Luna-25 burned 43 seconds too long
The Luna-25 crashed due to an engine failure. They would have to burn for exactly 84 seconds for the craft to orbit the moon. Instead, the engines burned for 127 seconds. For example, the Luna-25 entered a lunar orbit that was too low and crashed unplanned on the lunar surface.
The last time Russia managed to land on the moon was in 1976 with the Luna-24 mission, then still as the Soviet Union. The team behind that moon landing even came largely from Ukraine.
Apart from the Soviet Union, only the United States, China and India have managed to reach the surface of the moon in a careful and controlled manner.
Image: NASA
Read more about:
Universe and space travelAbroadTech
2023-09-02 13:34:16
#NASA #Discovers #Crater #Moon #Caused #Russian #Crash #Tech
