Astronomers believe they are close to locating Luna 9, the first probe to successfully land on the Moon. An international team has been using an advanced machine learning algorithm to pinpoint its location.
The United States beat the Soviet Union to landing a crewed mission on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Yet, three years prior, it appeared the Soviets were in the lead. On February 3, 1966, Soviet engineers achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface with the Luna 9 spacecraft. It was the first to land on the Moon and the first to transmit photographic data from another celestial body back to Earth.
Despite this historic achievement, the exact location of the Soviet probe remained unknown for decades. This was partly due to outdated calculations, but also due to the fact that of the probe’s unique landing technique. Before settling, Luna 9 deployed a spherical landing capsule with inflatable airbags, causing it to bounce across the surface before coming to rest.
Following the mission, Soviet scientists released estimated landing coordinates. However, the precise location has been debated ever since. In 2009, NASA confirmed the issue, stating that Luna 9 could be several kilometers away from its originally predicted landing site.
Have They Found It?
Data scientist Lewis Pinault from University College London developed a machine learning algorithm called You-Only-Look-Once—Extraterrestrial Artifact (YOLO-ETA). He trained the algorithm on images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) of several Apollo landing sites, as well as images of Luna 16, a Soviet probe that landed on the Moon in 1970.
Researchers claim they analyzed the landing area provided by the Soviets and identified potential traces of the Luna 9 probe. They selected several locations where the algorithm detected possible evidence of disturbance to the lunar soil caused by an artificial landing module. This development highlights the increasing use of artificial intelligence in space exploration and historical research.
Independently, scientific communicator Vitaliy Yegorov also claims to have tracked down the probe by analyzing an image it transmitted to Earth at the time. However, the results from the two teams differ.
Regardless, India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission may provide the definitive answer. Discussions are underway with the Indian Space Research Organisation for the probe to fly over these areas.
