The Soviet "Moon Programme"
|
|
|
Lunokhod_2_Rover-2.jpgNever forgotten! The last image from Lunokhod 2 (small)81 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
|
|
Lunokhod_2_Rover-3.jpgNever forgotten! The last image from Lunokhod 2 (EDM)106 visiteThe two Lunokhods showed the value of robotic explorers on the Surface of another World. It would have taken another 24 years before the next robotic rover, Sojourner, drove on another World - this time Mars.
The LROC Science Operations Center received an unexpected Visitor: Ruslan Kuzmin. He was one of the scientists who had actually participated in the Lunokhod missions! We were able to show him LROC pictures of the hardware on the Surface and he was gracious enough to write down some of his thoughts upon seeing his "Old Friends".
"Thank you very much for showing me the excellent LROC images of the Lander platform from Luna-21, as well as the robotic Lunar Rover “Lunokhod-2” in its last and eternal parking place after a 37-Km, 4 month journey of research. To see the images with Lunokhod-2 and its tracks on the Lunar Surface is a very special feeling for me. In the time of the Lunokhod-2 operation, I was a young planetologist who was participating in the mission, and I analyzed the images received by the Rover’s TV- cameras. In fact, this was the first successful mission in which I was involved. It was many years ago (52 now!) when the Lunokhod-2 traveled for four months within the Crater Le-Monier at the eastern edge of the Mare Serenitatis.
While looking at LROC images of the Lunokhod-2 rover, I felt a deep interior excitement due to the welled up memories of the earliest “pages” of my science career. It is very exciting that the Lunokhod-2, as well as many other American and Soviet Union Landers, which operated many tens of years ago, now might be imaged by LROC so clearly and viewed by millions of people around the world. The LRO camera is without any doubt a really fantastic instrument that simultaneously brings our eyes close to the Lunar Surface, while reminding us of pioneering results from Historical Missions".MareKromium
|
|
Lunokhod_2_Rover.jpgLook at that! The Lunokhod 2 Rover, from LRO126 visiteLunokhod 2 Rover, note its tracks tracing its route southward. The enlargement is specially stretched to show the form of the Rover, the brighest area may be the open clamshell lid, ~400 meters wide.MareKromium
|
|
Zond-03-00.jpgZOND-3: the Spacecraft120 visiteZond 3 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (65-056B) Earth orbiting platform towards the Moon and Interplanetary Space on July, 18, 1965. The spacecraft was equipped with an f106 mm camera and TV system that provided automatic inflight film processing. On July 20, Lunar Fly-by occurred approximately 33 hours after launch and at a closest approach of 9200 Km. 25 pictures of very good quality were taken of the Lunar Far-Side from distances of 11.570 to 9960 Km over a period of about 68'.
The photos covered 19.000.000 square-Km of the Lunar Surface.
Photo transmissions by facsimile were returned to Earth from a distance of 2,2 MKM and were retransmitted from a distance of 31,5 MKM (some signals still being transmitted from the distance of the orbit of Mars), thus proving the ability of the communications system.
After the Lunar Fly-by, Zond 3 continued its space exploration moving in a heliocentric orbit.
|
|
Zond-03-03.jpgThe Moon, from ZOND-3 (1)107 visiteOne July 20, 1965, Zond-3 was the second spacecraft to view the Far-Side of the Moon.
However, this model 3MV spacecraft was actually designed for Missions to Mars and Venus.
Using a phototelevision camera, 29 frames were exposed. The Zond-3 camera was developed by A.S. Selivanov and his team at the Institute of Space Device Engineering. The images were processed and analyzed by Iu.N. Lipskii and his team at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute.
The frames 1 and 2 were probably pre-exposed test patterns and have not been published; frames 8-10 contained an ultraviolet spectrum, and frame 25 was never received.
Using digital pulse-position modulation, all frames were scanned and transmitted in 67-line resolution and selected images were retransmitted at 1100-line resolution.
|
|
Zond-03-07.jpgThe Moon, from ZOND-3 (2)100 visitenessun commento
|
|
Zond-03-14.jpgThe Moon, from ZOND-3 (3)88 visitenessun commento
|
|
Zond-03-18.jpgThe Moon, from ZOND-3 (4)85 visitenessun commento
|
|
Zond-03-26.jpgThe Moon, from ZOND-3 (5)92 visitenessun commento
|
|
Zond-05-01.jpgZOND-5 and the first Turtle, Wine-fly and Worm Astronauts!83 visiteZond-5 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (68-076B) in Earth parking orbit to make scientific studies during a Lunar Fly-by and to return to Earth. En route to the Moon the main stellar attitude control optical surface became contaminated and was rendered unusable. Backup sensors were used to guide the spacecraft. On Sept. 18, 1968, the spacecraft flew around the Moon. The closest distance was 1.950 Km. High quality photographs of the Earth were taken at a distance of 90.000 Km.
A biological payload of turtles, wine flies, meal worms, plants, seeds, bacteria and other living matter was included in the flight. Additionally, according to the Russian Academy of Sciences, in the pilot's seat was a 175 cm tall, 70 kg mannequin containing radiation detectors. Returning to Earth another attitude control sensor failed, making the planned guided entry impossible and forcing the spacecraft controllers to use a direct ballistic entry. On Sept. 21, 1968, the reentry capsule entered the Earth's atmosphere, braked aerodynamically, and deployed parachutes at 7 km. The capsule splashed down in the backup area in the Indian Ocean at 32.63 degrees S, 65.55 degrees E and was successfully recovered, safely returning the biological payload. It was announced that the turtles (steppe tortoises) had lost about 10% of their body weight but remained active and showed no loss of appetite. The spacecraft was planned as a precursor to crewed lunar spacecraft. It represented the first successful Soviet circumlunar mission.
|
|
Zond-06-02.jpgRising Earth, from ZOND-689 visiteZond-6 was launched on a Lunar Fly-By mission from a parent satellite (68-101B) in Earth parking orbit. The spacecraft, which carried scientific probes (including cosmic-ray and micrometeoroid detectors, photography equipment and a biological payload), was a precursor to manned spaceflight.
Zond 6 flew around the Moon on November 14, 1968, at a minimum distance of 2420 Km. Photographs of the Lunar Near and Far-Side were obtained with panchromatic film. Each photo was 12,70 by 17,78 cm. Some of the views allowed for stereo pictures.
The photos were taken from distances of approximately 11.000 and 3300 Km. Controlled reentry of the spacecraft occurred on November 17, 1968, and Zond-6 landed in a predetermined (and unknown) Region of the Soviet Union.
|
|
Zond-06-03c.jpgLunar Surface from ZOND-6219 visiteCerchiatura Rossa (Sx): si vede una striscia scura (simile ad una landing strip) che si diparte da un rilievo anomalo ed indefinito (in basso, accanto al punto verde).
Può trattarsi di un effetto ottico derivante dalla non buona qualità del frame così come potrebbe essere un photoartifact. O magari, perchè no?, un'effettiva Anomalìa di Superficie.
Cerchiatura Rossa (Dx): evidenziamo un rilievo (un cratere?) decisamente più luminoso dei rilievi circostanti (high albedo?) il quale ci sembra di più essere un qualcosa di sovrapposto al paesaggio piuttosto che una parte di esso.
Valgono comunque, anche in questo caso, le medesime considerazioni svolte in precedenza.
|
|
| 84 immagini su 7 pagina(e) |
 |
|
|
5 | |
|
