"A team of scientists designed a machine learning algorithm to trawl through hundreds of images taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. They focused their efforts on the roughly three-mile by three-mile area on the moon's surface that the Soviets had initially targeted. Their algorithm, dubbed 'You-Only-Look-Once-Extraterrestrial Artifact' (YOLO-ETA), spotted several previously unseen marks on the surface. This area, located in the moon's Oceanus Procellarum, even shows disturbances in the soil that could have been made by Luna 9's tumbling descent."
"Unlike the lunar lander used in 1969's Apollo 11 mission, Luna 9 deployed a spherical landing capsule that hit the lunar surface with some considerable speed. Just before impact, the craft fired its braking engine and inflated airbags that protected Luna 9 as it bashed into the ground at 14 miles per hour (22 km/h). Scientists believe the craft then bounced several times in the moon's low gravity before coming to a rest and catching itself with four petal-like panels."
On February 3, 1966, the uncrewed Luna 9 lander executed the first soft landing on the lunar surface and transmitted nine images before its batteries died three days later. Chaotic descent and trajectory miscalculations left the lander's final resting place uncertain. A team developed a machine-learning algorithm called 'You-Only-Look-Once-Extraterrestrial Artifact' (YOLO-ETA) to search hundreds of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images of the roughly three-mile by three-mile Soviet target area in Oceanus Procellarum. The algorithm identified previously unseen surface marks and soil disturbances consistent with a tumbling descent. Luna 9 used a spherical capsule, braking engine, and inflated airbags, impacting at about 14 miles per hour and bouncing to a stop with four petal-like panels.
Read at Mail Online
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