NASA Finds New Crater On The Moon, Allegedly Impact Of Russia's Luna-25 Collision

NASA has seen a new small crater on the Moon (photo: dock. nasa)

JAKARTA - The American Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) has seen a new small crater on the Moon, which is claimed to have been caused by a failed landing from Russia's Luna-25 about two weeks ago.

The appearance of the crater was successfully immortalized by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which was then compared to the image before and after the estimated impact point.

It is known that upon descent, the Luna-25 experienced an anomaly that caused it to collide with the Moon's surface on August 19, destroying Russia's hopes of reviving the long inactive Moon program by making its first soft landing at the Moon's south pole.

Since the new crater is close to the estimated Luna-25 collision point, the LRO team concluded it was likely that the crater originated from the failed mission, and not due to a natural collision.

The new crater is about 10 meters in diameter, located at 57,865 degrees south latitude and 61,360 degrees east longitude at an altitude of about minus 360 meters, as quoted from NASA's website, Monday, September 4.

The impact point is on the inner edge of the steep Pont\'ecoulant G crater (larger than the 20-degree slope), about 400 kilometers from the Luna-25 landing point at 69,545 degrees south, 43,544 degrees east.

Russia's failure made it a country that lost to India, which successfully landed the Chandrayaan-3 mission on August 23 and is currently exploring the polar area with its Pragyan rover.