Russia’s space agency (Roscosmos) announced on Saturday that its spacecraft, Luna-25 sent to the South Pole of the Moon has released its first findings which are currently being analyzed. The agency also published images of the Ziman crater on the lunar surface captured by Luna-25, scheduled to land on Monday after orbiting the Moon for five days.
MOSCOW - Image Source: Reuters
According to Roscosmos the Ziman crater is the third deepest crater in the southern hemisphere of the Moon measuring 190 kilometers in diameter and eight kilometers in depth. The data received so far provides information about the chemical elements present in the lunar soil. This information will facilitate the work of devices designed to study the Moon’s surface in detail.
Roscosmos further revealed that its equipment recorded “the occurrence of impacts from small meteorites.” Luna-25 entered the Moon’s orbit on Wednesday becoming the first Russian spacecraft to do so since 1976. Approximately the size of a small car it will operate for one year at the Moon’s South Pole. In recent years, scientists from NASA and other space agencies have discovered evidence of frozen water in lunar craters.
The presence of water holds significant implications for major space missions as it could enable extended temporary stays for humans on the Moon. This, in turn, would allow for the extraction of resources available on the lunar surface.
