 Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) appears to have found the spot where Russia's Moon lander unceremoniously plummeted to the ground last month. A picture taken by the LRO shows a freshly-blasted impact crater in the area Luna-25 is thought to have crashed, according to information provided by Russian space agency Roscosmos. The area photographed on August 24 is on the inner rim of the Pontécoulant G crater in the Moon's southeast, about 250 miles away from the mission's intended landing site at the lunar south pole. A crater around 10 metres in diameter can be clearly seen, and is not present in the LRO's previous image of the area, taken in June 2022. Given the information provided by Roscosmos, Nasa said in a statement: 'Since this new crater is close to the Luna 25 estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor.' Due to its very thin atmosphere, the Moon is particularly susceptible to meteorite strikes – the surface is covered in craters, some of which are visible to the naked eye. Luna-25 was Russia's first mission to the Moon in almost half a century (Picture: Roscosmos/AFP) In this case however, the new crater appears to be of human origin, and definitely cannot be seen by amateur moongazers – although at 57.865 degrees south and 61.360 degrees east, it is just on the side of the Moon facing Earth. Luna-25 was Russia's first mission to the Moon in 47 years. Its aim was to study the lunar south pole region, an area of great interest to many space-faring countries in the belief it may contain coveted pockets of ice, a vital element for long-term human presence and onward interplanetary travel. However, while executing a manoeuvre to shunt the spacecraft into a pre-landing orbit on Saturday, August 19, it began to spin out of control and crash){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) appears to have found the spot where Russia’s Moon lander unceremoniously plummeted to the ground last month.
A picture taken by the LRO shows a freshly-blasted impact crater in the area Luna-25 is thought to have crashed, according to information provided by Russian space agency Roscosmos.
The area photographed on August 24 is on the inner rim of the Pontecoulant G crater in the Moon’s southeast, about 250 miles away from the mission’s intended landing site at the lunar south pole.
A crater around 10 metres in diameter can be clearly seen, and is not present in the LRO’s previous image of the area, taken in June 2022.