The crash of the Russian probe “Luna-25” on the moon: NASA believes it has discovered a crater formed by the impact

Crater “close to the impact site”. On Thursday evening, NASA released an image of a new crater on the Moon, most likely the result of the impact of the Russian probe Luna 25, which crashed into the lunar surface about two weeks ago.

The photo was taken by the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) probe, which has been orbiting the Earth’s natural satellite since 2009.

US space agency teams compared pre- and post-impact images and observed a “small new crater,” the press release explains. According to NASA, it is “about 10m in diameter” and is “about 400km away from the planned Luna 25 landing site.”

“This is probably the result of this mission, and not a natural projectile”

The US space agency said it sent a team to the LRO probe to go and survey the area identified by the Russian space agency Roscosmos as the suspected crash site.

Because the crater is “close to the predicted impact point of Luna 25,” NASA teams “conclude that it is most likely the result of this mission and not a natural projectile.”

Nearly fifty years after Moscow’s last successful lunar mission, the nearly 800-kilogram Luna 25 probe crashed into the lunar surface on August 19 following an incident during a landing maneuver.

Just a few days later, India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the Moon’s South Pole, an unexplored region now in the spotlight because it has water in the form of ice.