Lunochod 3
Lunochod 3 ( Russian Луноход , moon vehicle ') was a planned third Soviet rover after Lunochod 1 and Lunochod 2 , which should explore the Earth's moon . It was scheduled to launch with a Luna landing unit in 1977. Like the previous missions, the vehicle was supposed to be controlled by a five-person team (commander, driver, operations engineer, navigator, radio operator). The most noticeable difference to the previous lunar vehicles is the arrangement of the front cameras. The exact reasons why this mission was not started are not known to this day. Financial bottlenecks were probably the cause. The launcher used to launch Lunochod 3 was more urgently needed for satellite launches.
The rover is on display today at the space company NPO Lavochkin in Khimki ( Russia ).
literature
- Brian Harvey: Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration . Praxis Publishing, Chichester, 2007. pp. 280-282.