List of man-made objects on the moon
The list of man-made objects on the moon contains most of the man-made objects that have landed or hit the surface of the moon (in the latter case, the objects as such are partly no longer there, since they have been completely destroyed). Smaller objects such as the retroreflectors and the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package are not listed . Several small objects belonging to the Apollo astronauts are also missing, such as the golf balls that were hit by Alan Shepard during the Apollo 14 mission, flags or the statuette Fallen Astronaut , which was left on the moon by the crew of Apollo 15 . By 2012, a total of 748 objects had remained on the moon.
Five rocket upper stages of the Apollo program form the heaviest objects. While over 190 tons were brought to the moon, only 382 kg of lunar rock was brought back to Earth from the Apollo and Luna missions .
The only artificial objects on the moon that have been used since the end of the respective mission are the retroreflectors for the Lunar Laser Ranging Experiment (LLR) from the Apollo program and from Lunochod 2 and, since April 22, 2010, from Lunochod again 1 .
The objects with a position greater than 90 ° east or west are on the back of the moon . These are Ranger 4 , Lunar Orbiter 1 , Lunar Orbiter 2 , Lunar Orbiter 3 , the relay satellite from Kaguya , Longjiang-2 and the Chinese space probe Chang'e-4 as the only soft-landed object .
The objects are numbered in the order they hit or land.
list
object | Land / Space Agency | landing | Mass (kg) 1 | position | comment | image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lunik 2 | Soviet Union | September 13, 1959 | 390 | 29.1 ° N , 0 ° E | First space probe to hit the moon in a targeted manner. | |
Third rocket stage of the Vostok von Lunik 2 | Soviet Union | September 13, 1959 | 9,100 |
29.1 ° N , 0 ° E
Palus Putredinis |
30 minutes after Lunik 2 it also hit above Palus Putredinis, between the craters Archimedes and Autolycus . | |
Ranger 4 |
United States
( NASA ) |
April 26, 1962 | 331 | 12.9 ° S , 129.1 ° W | Despite the failure, Ranger 4 was the first US spacecraft to reach the surface of the moon. | |
Ranger 6 |
United States
( NASA ) |
2nd February 1964 | 381 | 9.4 ° N , 21.5 ° E | The cameras could not be activated immediately before the impact. | |
Ranger 7 |
United States
( NASA ) |
July 31, 1964 | 366 | 10.6 ° S , 20.61 ° W | The probe transmitted 4,300 images just before impact. | |
Ranger 8 |
United States
( NASA ) |
February 20, 1965 | 367 | 2.64 ° N , 24.77 ° O | Before the impact, the probe transmitted 7,300 images. | |
Ranger 9 |
United States
( NASA ) |
March 24, 1965 | 367 | 12.79 ° S , 2.36 ° W | Transmitted 5,800 images prior to impact, which were also shown live on US television. | |
Luna 5 | Soviet Union | May 12, 1965 | 1,474 | 1.6 ° S , 25 ° W | Crashed after the ground station lost control of the main engine. | |
Luna 7 | Soviet Union | October 7, 1965 | 1,504 | 9.8 ° N , 47.8 ° W | Crash after the attitude control system failed, so that the ignition of the brake engine failed. | |
Luna 8 | Soviet Union | December 6, 1965 | 1,550 |
9.6 ° N , 62 ° W
Oceanus procellarum |
Started rotating nine seconds after the brake engine fired and hit the moon hard. | |
Luna 9 | Soviet Union | 3rd February 1966 | 1,580 |
7.13 ° N , 64.37 ° W
Oceanus procellarum |
The first soft landing on the moon - and thus on a strange celestial body at all - in the history of space travel. | |
Luna 10 | Soviet Union | May 30, 1966 | 1,600 | unknown | Orbiter , played the International on April 3, 1966 . Hit the moon. | |
Surveyor 1 |
United States
( NASA ) |
June 2, 1966 | 270 |
2.45 ° S , 43.22 ° W
Oceanus procellarum |
First soft landing of a US probe on the moon. The probe worked for around six weeks and transmitted 11,200 images. | |
Surveyor 2 |
United States
( NASA ) |
September 22, 1966 | 292 | 4 ° S , 11 ° W | Was destroyed on hard impact. | |
Lunar Orbiter 1 |
United States
( NASA ) |
October 29, 1966 | 386 | 6.35 ° N , 160.72 ° O | From the 26th orbit of the moon on August 18, he began to record and transmitted a total of 229 images until the crash. | |
Luna 11 | Soviet Union | October 31, 1966 | 1,640 | unknown | Was an orbiter of the improved E-6LF series and was launched on August 24, 1966. | |
Luna 13 | Soviet Union | December 24, 1966 | 1,700 |
18.87 ° N , 63.05 ° W
Oceanus procellarum |
An instrumentally improved version of Luna 9. | |
Luna 12 | Soviet Union | January 19, 1967 | 1,670 | unknown | The repetition of the mission with Luna 11, started on October 22, 1966, was successful. | |
Surveyor 3 |
United States
( NASA ) |
April 20, 1967 | 281 |
2.99 ° S , 23.34 ° W
Oceanus procellarum |
Parts of the probe were dismantled by the astronauts on the Apollo 12 mission and brought back to Earth. | |
Surveyor 4 |
United States
( NASA ) |
17th July 1967 | 283 | 0.45 ° N , 1.39 ° W | Hit hard three days after it started. | |
Surveyor 5 |
United States
( NASA ) |
September 11, 1967 | 281 | 1.42 ° N , 23.2 ° E | Submitted 19,000 images, data and analyzed a soil sample by December 17, 1967. | |
Lunar Orbiter 3 |
United States
( NASA ) |
October 10, 1967 | 386 | 14.6 ° N , 97.7 ° W | Not considered successful due to some malfunctions. | |
Lunar Orbiter 2 |
United States
( NASA ) |
October 11, 1967 | 385 | 2.9 ° N , 119.1 ° E | Transmitted 817 images by October 11, 1967, impact. | |
Lunar Orbiter 4 |
United States
( NASA ) |
October 31, 1967 | 386 | between 22 ° u. 30 ° W | The probe took 546 pictures. As a result, the front of the moon was almost completely covered and about 3/4 of the back was covered. | |
Surveyor 6 |
United States
( NASA ) |
November 10, 1967 | 282 |
0.53 ° N , 1.4 ° W
Sinus Medii |
The probe transmitted 15,000 images and a lot of data. On November 17, 1967, her engine was restarted and the probe then touched down 2.5 m away. | |
Surveyor 7 |
United States
( NASA ) |
January 10, 1968 | 290 | 40.86 ° S , 11.47 ° W | The probe had sent 21,000 images by February 21, 1968. | |
Lunar Orbiter 5 |
United States
( NASA ) |
January 31, 1968 | 386 | 2.8 ° S , 83.1 ° W | From August 6, 1967, 844 images were transmitted, including the back of the moon, which was not yet fully captured. | |
Luna 14 | Soviet Union | 1968 | 1,670 | unknown | Among other things, the probe was used to test the communication system for the manned Soviet lunar program and to carry out other scientific experiments. | |
Apollo 10 LEM Descent Stage (Snoopy) |
United States
( NASA ) |
unknown | 2.211 | unknown | Simulation of the moon landing planned for Apollo 11 up to 14 km above the lunar surface. The descent stage remained in lunar orbit on May 22, 1969 and crashed at an unknown time after the mission ended. | |
Apollo 11 LEM Descent Stage (Eagle) |
United States
( NASA ) |
20th July 1969 | 2,034 | 0.67408 ° N , 23.47297 ° O | The first manned landing on the moon. First transport of moon rocks to earth. | |
Luna 15 | Soviet Union | July 21, 1969 | 2,718 | 17 ° N , 60 ° E | The first return probes of the E-8-5 series were supposed to bring back lunar rocks before the Americans, but the probe hit the moon hard. | |
Apollo 11 LEM ascent stage (Eagle) |
United States
( NASA ) |
1969 | 2.184 | unknown | Swiveled into a lunar orbit and docked again with the command module. The stage remained in lunar orbit on July 21, 1969 and later crashed. | |
Apollo 12 LEM Descent Stage (Intrepid) |
United States
( NASA ) |
19th November 1969 | 2.211 |
2.99 ° S , 23.34 ° W
Oceanus procellarum |
Second manned moon landing. The landing site was chosen so that Surveyor 3 could collect the results of the experiments. | |
Apollo 12 LEM Ascent Stage (Intrepid) |
United States
( NASA ) |
20th November 1969 | 2.164 | 3.94 ° S , 21.2 ° W | Intrepid hit about 45 miles from the seismometer at about 1.5 km / s. The data of the following moonquake were transmitted directly to the earth by the ALSEP. | |
Apollo 13 S-IVB
(S-IVB-508) |
United States
( NASA ) |
April 14, 1970 | 13,454 |
2.75 ° S , 27.86 ° W
Oceanus procellarum |
The impact corresponded to the explosive effect of a good 10 t TNT. After about 30 seconds, the seismometer set up by Apollo 12 registered the impact. Image of the impact point of the LRO : [1] | |
Luna 16 | Soviet Union | 20th September 1970 | <5,727 | 0.68 ° S , 56.3 ° E | The first Soviet mission to bring moon rocks to earth. | |
Luna 17 | Soviet Union | 17th November 1970 | 4,844 | 38.2378 ° N , 35.0017 ° W | Dropped Lunochod 1, the first remote-controlled rover on another celestial body. | |
Lunochod 1 | Soviet Union | 17th November 1970 | 757 | 38.3152 ° N , 35.008 ° W | The rover covered 10,540 m, transmitted more than 20,000 images, over 200 panoramas and examined over 500 soil samples. Lunochod 1 was rediscovered by LRO in March 2010 . | |
Apollo 14 S-IVB
(S-IVB-509) |
United States
( NASA ) |
4th February 1971 | 14,016 | 8.09 ° S , 26.02 ° W | Impact on the lunar surface for seismic experiments. | |
Apollo 14 LEM Descent Stage (Antares) |
United States
( NASA ) |
5th February 1971 | 2.144 | 3.6453 ° S , 17.47136 ° W | Third manned moon landing, the target was the Fra Mauro highlands, which should actually be visited by Apollo 13. | |
Apollo 14 LEM ascent stage (Antares) |
United States
( NASA ) |
7th February 1971 | 2.132 |
3.42 ° S , 19.67 ° W
Oceanus procellarum |
At the end of his last spacecraft mission , Alan Shepard became the first golfer on the moon. | |
Apollo 15 S-IVB (S-IVB-510) |
United States
( NASA ) |
July 29, 1971 | 14,036 |
1.51 ° S , 17.48 ° W
Fra Mauro crater |
Impact on the lunar surface for seismic experiments. | |
Apollo 15 LEM Descent Stage (Falcon) |
United States
( NASA ) |
July 31, 1971 | 2,809 | 26.13222 ° N , 3.63386 ° O | Fourth manned moon landing. | |
Apollo 15 Lunar Roving Vehicle |
United States
( NASA ) |
2nd August 1971 | 262 | 26.08 ° N , 3.66 ° O | First moon car. When the crew assembled the moon car, David Scott discovered that the front steering was defective. | |
Apollo 15 LEM ascent stage (Falcon) |
United States
( NASA ) |
3rd August 1971 | 2.132 |
26.36 ° N , 0.25 ° E
Palus Putredinis |
Impact on the lunar surface. | |
Luna 18 | Soviet Union | 11th September 1971 | 5,600 | 3.57 ° N , 56.5 ° E | It fell silent on landing and may have tipped over in inaccessible terrain or damaged on landing. | |
Luna 20 | Soviet Union | February 21, 1972 | <5,727 | 3.53 ° N , 56.55 ° E | Landed about 1800 m from Luna 18 and collected 55 g soil samples as the drill could only penetrate 15 cm. | |
Apollo 16 S-IVB (S-IVB-511) |
United States
( NASA ) |
April 19, 1972 | 14.002 | 1.921 ° N , 24.623 ° W | Impact on the lunar surface for seismic experiments. | |
Apollo 16 LEM Descent Stage (Orion) |
United States
( NASA ) |
April 20, 1972 | 2,765 | 8.97301 ° S , 15.50019 ° O | Fifth manned landing on the moon. The goal was the Cayley highlands, near the Descartes crater. | |
Apollo 16 Lunar Roving Vehicle |
United States
( NASA ) |
April 24, 1972 | 462 |
8.97 ° S , 15.51 ° E
Descartes high plateau |
Second moon car, covered 26.6 kilometers. | |
Apollo 16 LEM ascent stage (Orion) |
United States
( NASA ) |
April 24, 1972 | 2.138 | unknown | Impact on the lunar surface. | |
Apollo 16 subsatellite |
United States
( NASA ) |
May 29, 1972 | 42 | unknown | ||
Explorer 49 ( RAE-B ) |
United States
( NASA ) |
May 29, 1972 | 328 | unknown | Was placed in orbit around the moon and examined radio emissions in a frequency range from 25 kHz to 13.1 MHz. | |
Luna 19 | Soviet Union | September 30, 1972 | 5,600 | unknown | Was a moon orbiter. A lunochod without wheels was brought into lunar orbit and this was equipped with further experiments. | |
Apollo 17 S-IVB
(S-IVB-512) |
United States
( NASA ) |
December 10, 1972 | 13,960 | 4.21 ° S , 22.31 ° W | Impact on the lunar surface for seismic experiments. | |
Apollo 17 LEM Descent Stage (Challenger) |
United States
( NASA ) |
December 11, 1972 | 2,798 | 20.1908 ° N , 30.77168 ° O | Sixth and so far last manned moon landing. | |
Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle |
United States
( NASA ) |
December 14, 1972 | 462 |
20.17 ° N , 30.77 ° W
Taurus-Littrow |
Third moon car, in contrast to the earlier missions, no defects in the steering. | |
Apollo 17 LEM ascent stage (Challenger) |
United States
( NASA ) |
December 15, 1972 | 2,150 |
19.96 ° N , 30.5 ° E
Taurus-Littrow |
Impact on the lunar surface. | |
Luna 21 | Soviet Union | 15th January 1973 | 4,727 | 25.85 ° N , 30.45 ° O | Was the lander of Lunochod 2 | |
Lunochod 2 | Soviet Union | 15th January 1973 | 840 | 25.47 ° N , 30.54 ° O | Although this mission lasted only five months, the rover covered over 39 km, the record for the longest distance traveled by a vehicle on the moon. | |
Apollo 15 subsatellite |
United States
( NASA ) |
22nd January 1973 | 36 | unknown | ||
Explorer 35 (IMP-E) |
United States
( NASA ) |
June 24, 1973 | 104 | unknown | A spin stabilized satellite for researching the magnetic field in lunar orbit. | |
Luna 23 | Soviet Union | November 6, 1974 | 5,600 | 13 ° N , 62 ° E | Landed successfully, but the drill was damaged on landing, so no soil samples were obtained. | |
Luna 22 | Soviet Union | 2nd November 1975 | 4,000 | unknown | Worked in lunar orbit until September 2, 1975. | |
Luna 24 | Soviet Union | 18th August 1976 | <5,800 | 12.75 ° N , 62.2 ° E | The last Luna probe brought 170 g of lunar rock to earth. | |
Hiten Orbiter (Hagoromo) |
Japan
( ISAS ) |
March 19, 1990 | 12 | unknown | Daughter probe from Hiten. | |
Hit |
Japan
( ISAS ) |
April 10, 1993 | 143 | 34.3 ° S , 55.6 ° E | It was a technology experiment. The probe's scientific mission was limited to measuring the cosmic dust between the earth and the moon using the Munich Dust Counter. | |
Lunar Prospector |
United States
( NASA ) |
July 31, 1999 | 126 | 87.7 ° S , 42.1 ° E | The orbiter was equipped with six scientific experiments. | |
SMART-1 | ESA | September 3, 2006 | 307 | 34.24 ° S , 46.12 ° W | One of the main objectives of the mission was to test a novel, solar-electric powered ion drive and new navigation and communication technologies. | |
Chandrayaan-1 Moon Impact Probe |
India
( ISRO ) |
November 14, 2008 | 29 | 89.9 ° S , 0 ° E | A mass spectrometer, video camera and radar altimeter were installed on the MIP. The exterior of the impact probe was painted on the sides with the Indian national colors. | |
Kaguya Subsatellite (Okina) |
Japan
( JAXA ) |
February 12, 2009 | 53 |
28.2 ° N , 159 ° W
near miner crater |
The relay satellite was used to relay the signal between the orbiter and Earth. | |
Chang'e-1 |
People's Republic of China
( CNSA ) |
March 1, 2009 | 2,350 | 1.5 ° S , 52.36 ° E | Technologies for future missions will be tested and the condition of the lunar surface and the rock will be studied. | |
Kaguya |
Japan
( JAXA ) |
June 10, 2009 | 1,720 | 80.4 ° N , 65.5 ° W | Made the first HDTV pictures of the moon, successful mission. | |
Centaur high school |
United States
( NASA ) |
October 9, 2009 11:31 UTC |
1,930 | 84.675 ° S , 48.725 ° W | The Centaur fell with a speed of 2.5 km / s unbraked at an angle of about 70 ° on the moon. | |
LCROSS |
United States
( NASA ) |
October 9, 2009 11:35 UTC |
585 |
84.729 ° S , 49.36 ° W
Cabeus crater |
Serve about four minutes after the Centaur high school, was able to gain scientific data on its composition while crossing the cloud and transmit it to earth in real time. | |
GRAIL A ("Ebb") |
United States
( NASA ) |
December 17, 2012 10:28:51 PM UTC |
133 |
75.62 ° N , 26.63 ° W
Lunar North Pole Region, between the Philolaus and Mouchez craters |
At the scheduled end of the mission, the space probe collided with an unnamed mountain. The site of the impact was named by NASA after the late astronaut Sally Ride . | |
GRAIL B ("Flow") |
United States
( NASA ) |
December 17, 2012 10:29:21 PM UTC |
133 |
75.62 ° N , 26.63 ° W
Lunar North Pole Region, between the Philolaus and Mouchez craters |
At the scheduled end of the mission, the space probe collided with an unnamed mountain. The site of the impact was named by NASA after the late astronaut Sally Ride. | |
Chang'e-3 |
People's Republic of China
( CNSA ) |
December 14, 2013 13:11:18 UTC |
1,200 |
44.115 ° N , 19.515 ° W
Mare Imbrium |
The Chang'e-3 lander had the Yutu rover on board. The first rover on the moon since Lunochod 2 in 1973. The mass of the rover is 140 kg. | |
LADEE |
United States
( NASA ) |
April 18, 2014 04:30 - 05:22 UTC |
383 |
11.97 ° N , 93.56 ° W
Sundman V crater |
The mission ended with a planned impact on the eastern edge of Sundman V Crater. | |
Chang'e-4 |
People's Republic of China
(CNSA) |
January 3, 2019 2:26 UTC |
1,340 |
45.5 ° S , 178 ° E
From Kármán Crater in the South Pole Aitken Basin |
First landing on the back of the moon . The Chang'e-4 lander had the rover Jadehase 2 on board. The mass of the rover is 140 kg. | |
Beresheet | Israel (SpaceIL) | April 11, 2019 19:23 UTC |
585 | Mare Serenitatis | First Israeli and first privately financed lunar lander. Crashed during landing. | |
Longjiang-2 (DSLWP B) |
People's Republic of China
(CNSA) |
July 31, 2019 14:20 UTC |
47 | facing away from the moon | Test satellite for low-frequency radio astronomy and amateur radio satellite , as expected, crashed after the end of the mission. | |
Vikram with Pragyan by Chandrayaan-2 |
India
(ISRO) |
September 6, 2019 approx. 20:20 UTC |
1471 | South Pole Region | Moon lander with rover, failed landing | |
62 missions | Total takeoff mass: | approx. 190 t |
Picture gallery
Retroreflector from Apollo 11
Surveyor 3 on the moon, photographed by Alan Bean
Eugene Cernan
on December 11, 1972 with the Lunar Roving Vehicle
See also
- List of artificial objects on other celestial bodies
- List of man-made objects on Mars
- List of man-made objects on Venus
- List of man-made objects on Mercury
- Chronology of the moon missions
swell
- NASA (all English):
- Bernd Leitenberger's website
Individual evidence
- ^ NASA: Catalog of Manmade Material on the Moon. (PDF) May 7, 2012
- ^ Spiegel online (boj / dpa): Our astro trash on the moon. 3rd January 2019
- ↑ http://www.google.com/moon/#lat=0.655754&lon=23.471664&zoom=18&apollo=a11
- ↑ http://www.google.com/moon/#lat=-3.009785&lon=-23.424206&zoom=15&apollo=a12
- ↑ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc_20090929_apollo14sivb.html
- ↑ http://www.google.com/moon/#lat=-3.594285&lon=-17.486782&zoom=14&apollo=a14
- ↑ http://www.google.com/moon/#lat=26.036942&lon=3.633596&zoom=11&apollo=a15
- ↑ LRO Finds Apollo 16 Booster Rocket Impact Site. NASA, December 3, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 .
- ↑ http://www.google.com/moon/#lat=-8.959269&lon=15.471300&zoom=11&apollo=a16
- ↑ http://www.google.com/moon/#lat=20.183683&lon=30.727787&zoom=11&apollo=a17
- ^ Out-of-This-World Records. (JPG) NASA, July 28, 2014, accessed September 30, 2014 .
- ↑ JAXA: Hiten Muses-A. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 11, 2013 ; accessed on September 30, 2014 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Gunter's Space Page: Chandrayaan 1
- ↑ Stephen Clark: Israeli probe crashes in attempt to become first privately-funded moon lander. In: Spaceflight Now. April 11, 2019, accessed April 11, 2019 .