AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,809 Increased By 41.1 (0.42%)
BR30 29,711 Increased By 311.1 (1.06%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)
World

Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft produces first results, space agency says

Published August 19, 2023
This handout photograph taken by the Luna-25 rover (Moon-25) and released by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos on August 17, 2023, shows the Zeeman lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. Photo: AFP
This handout photograph taken by the Luna-25 rover (Moon-25) and released by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos on August 17, 2023, shows the Zeeman lunar impact crater on the far side of the Moon. Photo: AFP

The Russian spacecraft on a mission to the moon’s south pole has produced its first results and they are being analysed, Russia’s national space agency Roskosmos said on Saturday.

The agency also posted images of the moon’s Zeeman crater taken from the Luna-25 spacecraft, which is scheduled to make a landing on the south pole on Monday after circling the Earth’s only natural satellite for five days.

Russia’s Luna-25 probe enters Moon orbit

The Zeeman crater is the third deepest in the moon’s southern hemisphere, the agency said, measuring 190 km in diameter and eight km in depth.

Roskosmos said data it had received so far had provided information about the chemical elements in the lunar soil and would also facilitate the operation of devices designed to study the near-surface of the moon.

It added that its equipment had registered “the event of a micrometeorite impact”.

The Luna-25 entered the moon’s orbit on Wednesday, the first Russian spacecraft to do so since 1976. Roughly the size of a small car, it will aim to operate for a year on the south pole, where scientists at NASA and other space agencies in recent years have detected traces of frozen water in the craters.

The presence of water has implications for major space powers, potentially allowing longer human sojourns on the moon that would enable the mining of lunar resources.

Comments

Comments are closed.