Nasa's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured a new image of a crater on the moon, which is believed to be the result of Russia's Luna 25 mission. The LRO's most recent ‘before’ image was taken in June 2022, indicating that the crater formed sometime after this date. The Luna 25 mission experienced an anomaly during its descent, causing it to impact the moon's surface. The LRO team believes that the newly formed crater is likely the result of this impact, rather than a natural occurrence.
#NASA #LRO #Luna25 #Luna25CrashSite
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#NASA #LRO #Luna25 #Luna25CrashSite
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00:00 NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has captured a new image of a crater on the
00:07 moon, which is believed to be the result of Russia's Luna 25 mission.
00:12 The LRO's most recent before image was taken in June 2022.
00:18 It indicated that the crater formed some time after that date.
00:22 The Luna 25 mission experienced an anomaly during its descent, causing it to impact the
00:27 moon's surface.
00:29 The LRO team believes that the newly formed crater is likely the result of this impact
00:34 rather than a natural occurrence.
00:37 This conclusion is based on the proximity of the new crater to the estimated impact
00:41 point of the Luna 25 mission.
00:43 Russia's space agency Roscosmos published an estimate of the impact point on August
00:49 21.
00:50 The LRO camera team and the LRO mission operations team were able to design and send commands
00:56 to the LRO spacecraft on August 22 to capture images of the site.
01:01 The LROC team compared images taken prior to the impact time and the sequence taken
01:07 after and found a small new crater.
01:10 According to NASA, the new crater measures approximately 10 meters in diameter and is
01:15 located at 57.865 degrees south latitude and 61.360 degrees east longitude on the moon.
01:25 The American space agency said that the crater sits at an elevation of about -360 meters.
01:31 Interestingly, the impact point was on the steep inner rim of the Ponticulant G crater.
01:39 Ponticulant is a prominent lunar impact crater that is located on the southeastern part of
01:44 the moon.
01:45 The Ponticulant G crater has a grade greater than 20 degrees.
01:50 This location is about 400 kilometers short of Lunar 25's intended landing point at 69.545
01:58 degrees south and 43.544 degrees east.
02:03 The LRO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
02:07 It has been operational since June 18, 2009.
02:10 It has been instrumental in mapping the moon's surface and providing invaluable data about
02:15 Earth's closest celestial neighbor.
02:18 The LRO is currently funded to operate through September of 2025, continuing its mission
02:24 to explore and document the lunar surface.
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