LRO spots Luna-25 crash site on Moon
Click for interactive map.
Using the rough location data provided by Russian engineers, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) science team has successfully located a new small impact point on the Moon at that location in that they think is the crash site of Luna-25.
The inset in the map to the right shows that impact, with its location on the Moon indicated. The red dot marks the planned landing site in Boguslawsky crater in the high southern latitudes.
LRO’s most recent “before” image of the area was captured in June 2022; thus, the crater formed sometime after that date. 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.
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. The impact point was on the steep (greater than 20-degree grade) inner rim of Pontécoulant G crater, about 400 kilometers short of Luna 25’s intended landing point at 69.545 degrees south, 43.544 degrees east.
Luna-25 failed when, during its last orbital adjustment prior to attempting its landing, its engines fired for too long. Instead of adjusting the orbit, the burn de-orbited the spacecraft. As it was not programmed to attempt its landing sequence, it crashed.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for interactive map.
Using the rough location data provided by Russian engineers, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) science team has successfully located a new small impact point on the Moon at that location in that they think is the crash site of Luna-25.
The inset in the map to the right shows that impact, with its location on the Moon indicated. The red dot marks the planned landing site in Boguslawsky crater in the high southern latitudes.
LRO’s most recent “before” image of the area was captured in June 2022; thus, the crater formed sometime after that date. 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.
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. The impact point was on the steep (greater than 20-degree grade) inner rim of Pontécoulant G crater, about 400 kilometers short of Luna 25’s intended landing point at 69.545 degrees south, 43.544 degrees east.
Luna-25 failed when, during its last orbital adjustment prior to attempting its landing, its engines fired for too long. Instead of adjusting the orbit, the burn de-orbited the spacecraft. As it was not programmed to attempt its landing sequence, it crashed.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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