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Roscosmos publishes first results of Luna-25 spacecraft instrument measurements

In particular, the spacecraft registered the moment of a meteoroid impact

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/. The Luna-25 automatic space station, which currently orbits the Moon, carried out several measurement sessions with onboard scientific instruments and received the first research results, Roscosmos told reporters.

"During the mission, scientific hardware, developed in the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute (IKI) was turned on several times. While analyzing the data, IKI specialists obtained the following results," the state corporation noted.

In particular, the spacecraft registered the moment of a meteoroid impact.

"The PmL [Lunar dust monitor - TASS] instrument, designed for registration of particles levitating near lunar surface and determination of surrounding plasma parameters, registered a meteoroid impact event," the corporation said, specifying that the meteoroid most likely belonged to the Perseids meteor shower, which Luna-25 successfully crossed on its way to the Moon.

The ADRON-LR neutron and gamma spectrometer registered the most intense lines of chemical elements in the gamma ray energy spectrum. The ARIES-L ionic energy-mass analyzer, which is supposed to survey the near-surface ion exosphere in Moon’s polar region, was turned on for the first time.

"The obtained data made it possible to pick the optimal instrument mode of operation on lunar surface for measurement of energy spectra of particles in energy range between 10 eV and 3,000 eV," the corporation added.

Capturing of two photo images allowed IKI and Moscow State Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography (MIIGAiK) specialists to bind it to the digital relief model, which has significantly increased the knowledge about the spacecraft’s orbit.

Earlier, Roscosmos published the first image of lunar surface, taken by the Lun-25 automatic station. The image shows the Zeeman Crater, the third-deepest crater on Moon’s southern hemisphere. Its diameter stands at about 190 km and its depth is about 8 km.

"Detailed photos indicate that the crater’s bottom is dotted with smaller ones. This happens, if some matter, expelled during an impact, falls back, creating numerous small ‘depressions’," the state corporation explained.

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