New images released by the US Space Agency (NASA) have revealed a new crater on the moon’s surface after the fall of the Russian Luna 25 spacecraft on August 20, 2023.

On August 19, the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, reported an “abnormal situation” after the Luna 25 vehicle moved into pre-landing orbit, where the maneuvering engine responsible for propelling the vehicle worked for 127 seconds instead of 84 seconds. .

This led to a failed landing maneuver and loss of contact with the spacecraft 47 minutes after starting the engine. Attempts on August 19 and 20 to restore contact with the spacecraft were unsuccessful, the Russians later confirmed. A landing maneuver error caused the spacecraft to crash into the surface and launch the spacecraft at full power.

Roscosmos announced the expected crash site, and with this announcement a team from NASA sent the Lunar Explorer Orbiter “Ponticulant G” to a possible collision site in the lunar region.

The captured image showed a new crater for “Luna 25” about 400 kilometers from the target landing site. The new crater is about 10 meters in diameter, and NASA scientists suggested that it was caused by a vehicle collision.

Russia and the Moon

The Russians previously launched the “Luna 24” rover to the moon in 1976, while plans to develop the “Luna 25” program began in the late 1990s, attempting to renew and complete the Soviet program to explore the moon.

In the first decade of the current century, the development of the space shuttle was slowed down more than once due to difficulties in obtaining certain precision technical parts, and by 2017 the propulsion system of the space shuttle was under assembly.

The duration of the planned mission for “Luna 25” on the surface of the Moon was planned to be at least one Earth year, and 130 million US dollars were spent on the project.