Researchers may have found long-lost Soviet Moon lander

Two independent research teams may have tracked down the remains of Luna 9, the Soviet spacecraft that became the first human-made object to safely land on the Moon in 1966. However, the exact location of the historic lander remains disputed.

Luna 9, roughly the size of a beach ball, made history when its four petal-like covers opened on the lunar surface, revealing a camera that sent back the first pictures from another world, The New York Times writes.

While its successful touchdown demonstrated that the Moon could support spacecraft, its precise resting place has remained unknown for six decades.

Anatoly Zak, a space journalist who runs RussianSpaceWeb.com, emphasised the uncertainty: “One of them is wrong,” he said, referring to the two competing claims.

Vitaly Egorov, a Russian-born science communicator now based in Montenegro, has spent years searching for Luna 9. Using crowdsourced analysis of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LROC) images, he scanned a 62-mile-wide region, comparing the terrain in Luna 9’s original panoramic photos with orbital imagery.

Egorov said he is “fairly confident” he has located the correct site, though he cautions there could be errors of a few meters. To verify his find, he plans to use higher-resolution images from India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which has agreed to photograph the area in March.

Meanwhile, a team led by Lewis Pinault of University College London identified a different potential site using a machine-learning system called You-Only-Look-Once–Extraterrestrial Artefact (YOLO-ETA).

The system flagged several candidate objects, including a bright pixel that could be Luna 9, flanked by darker spots that may correspond to its airbag-like covers. “At the least, we have detected an unknown artifact,” said Pinault, who hopes his methods will eventually detect other lost spacecraft—or even hypothetical extraterrestrial artifacts.

Experts remain cautious. Philip Stooke, a lunar archaeologist, noted that neither site shows definitive evidence of the lander’s five components or the bright patches created by landing thrusters. Jeffrey Plescia, a planetary scientist, slightly favours Egorov’s location due to its close match with Luna 9’s horizon in the original panorama, but says confirmation requires higher-resolution images.

The search for Luna 9 highlights the broader challenge of locating early lunar missions, many of which remain unaccounted for. Zak said improved orbital cameras may eventually reveal these lost sites within our lifetimes.

For Egorov, the quest is deeply personal. Forced to leave Russia for opposing the invasion of Ukraine, he sees the search as a testament to humanity’s shared aspirations. “I hope my work encourages at least someone to look up at the stars, the moon, and Mars, and admire not only their beauty but also our ability to explore them,” he said.

Luna 9’s discovery—or confirmation—would not only settle a historical question but also celebrate the Soviet contribution to lunar exploration, paving the way for the six successful Apollo landings that followed.

By Aghakazim Guliyev