Lunochod

Lunochod 1

With Lunokhod ( Russian Луноход for "moonwalk"), also known under the name Luna E-8 , the type of unmanned is Soviet lunar vehicles referred to as part of the Luna program the moon explored. They were the first remote-controlled vehicles on another celestial body. The engineer Alexander Kemurdschian played a key role in the construction of the all-terrain reconnaissance vehicles . Two lunochods are on the moon and are out of order.

Lunochod missions

There were three missions: the first ended with the explosion of the Proton launcher , two more were very successful:

• First Lunochod launch attempt (E-8 No. 201) on February 19, 1969: The payload fairing of the launcher collapsed after about a minute of flight time, which led to the rocket's destruction.
• Luna 17 (E-8 No. 203) with the Lunochod 1 payload in 1970/1971
• Luna 21 (E-8 No. 204) with the Lunochod 2 payload in 1973

Planned mission:

• Luna 25 with the Lunochod 3 payload in 1977 was not launched for unknown reasons

technology

Control of Lunochod

Candidates from the ranks of the Soviet military were sought to control the Lunochod, using criteria similar to those used for the selection of cosmonauts . From the original 45 applicants in April 1968, 11 remained after the end of the training. Since work had to be carried out around the clock during the lunar day, they formed two teams of five (commander, driver, operations engineer, navigator, radio operator) with a substitute.

The vehicles are provided with a cover that contains solar cells on the inside for energy supply. The temperature could also be influenced by opening and closing the lid. Served for heating radionuclide heating elements from the polonium isotope ²¹⁰ Po. To make driving maneuvers easier, the Lunochods were equipped with a gyro system, a floor sensor and an inclinometer.

In Lunochod 2, a third front camera was added to improve maneuverability. Lunochod 2 held, as was determined in 2013 on images of the LRO , with a distance traveled of 42 km, the record for the distance traveled by an extraterrestrial vehicle until it was broken by Opportunity on Mars. Before that, apparently inaccurate measurements from Lunochod 2 itself, assumed 37 km. The vehicles were built by the space company NPO SA Lavochkin .

Both vehicles were functional beyond the planned duration of the mission and only had to be taken out of service when the radioactive polonium heating sources were exhausted.

See also

• Mars Exploration Rover A (Spirit)
• Mars Exploration Rover B (Opportunity)
• Solar vehicle
• List of space probes
• List of man-made objects on the moon
• Snailochod

Web links

Commons : Lunochod  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• detailed Luna mission overview

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Экипажи «луноходов». astronaut.ru, September 18, 2008, accessed June 24, 2009 (Russian). 
2. ^ Günther Glatzel: LRO data: Lunochod 2 drove 42 km on the moon. In: Raumfahrer.net, June 23, 2013, accessed June 24, 2013
3. ↑ The Mars vehicle Opportunity had covered 35.8 km by May 2013