| Risultati della ricerca nelle immagini - "Lunokhod" |
Luna17-Horz02.jpgTracks on the Moon283 visiteAs with many Soviet space images, generation loss prevents us from seeing the original quality. Most Lunokhod images are derived from scanning printed images or second-generation film copies.
Each stage of photography, printing and scanning introduces noise, nonlinear brighness mapping, and (worst of all) clamping to white or black.
As a matter of fact, all these images only hint at the appearance of the original video signal.
Nota: oltre le tecnicalità sulla fotografia, guardate attentamente il "nido" e le "tracce" lasciate dal Rover Lunokhod-1. Eravamo nel 1970, in piena Era Apollo, lontanissimi dai giorni di Spirit ed Opportunity eppure...eppure la tecnologia di Spirit ed Opportunity c'era già: davanti a noi, in queste immagini, e sulla Luna.
Le considerazioni - inevitabili - che seguono, già le conoscete...
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Luna17-Horz03-a.jpgThe "Nest" of Lunokhod-1227 visitenessun commento
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Luna17-Horz03-b.jpgThe "Tracks" - again - of Lunokhod-1182 visiteLuna 17 was launched from an Earth parking orbit towards the Moon and entered lunar orbit on November 15, 1970. The spacecraft soft landed on the Moon in the Sea of Rains. The spacecraft had dual ramps by which the payload, Lunokhod-1, descended to the Lunar Surface. Lunokhod-1 was a lunar vehicle formed of a tub-like compartment with a large convex lid on eight independently powered wheels. Lunokhod-1 was equipped with a cone-shaped antenna, a highly directional helical antenna, 4 tv cameras and special extendable device to impact the lunar soil for soil density and mechanical property tests. An X-Ray spectrometer, an X-Ray telescope, cosmic-ray detectors and a laser device were also included. The vehicle was powered by a solar cell array mounted on the underside of the lid. Lunokhod-1 was intended to operate through 3 Lunar Days but actually operated for 11! The operations of Lunokhod-1 officially ceased on October, 4, 1971, the anniversary of Sputnik 1. Lunokhod1- traveled 10,54 Km and transmitted more than 20,000 TV pictures and more than 200 TV panoramas. It had also conducted more than 500 lunar soil tests.
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Luna17-Horz09-a.jpgThe "Nest" of Lunokhod-1 (close detail)202 visitenessun commento
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Luna17-Horz09-b.jpgLarge depression and Rover tracks170 visiteUn'immagine molto importante poichè ci mostra, in maniera più che discreta, sullo sfondo verso la Vostra Dx, le tracce lasciate dal Rover Lunokhod-1.
Esse, oltre a dimostrare che il Rover si mosse in lungo ed in largo sulla superficie di questa zona del Mare Imbrium, ci dicono pure che questo antenato di Spirit ed Opportunity riuscì, diremmo senza difficoltà, ad attraversare una sensibile depressione del terreno: una prova ulteriore dell'elevata qualità del Rover, dei suoi sistemi di guida remota e delle sue notevolissime capacità di movimento.
Se Vi chiedeste come facciamo a dire che Lunokhod-1 non ebbe problemi ad attraversare la depressione lunare che si vede in questo frame, Vi diciamo che lo abbiamo dedotto dalla linearità delle tracce da esso lasciate sul terreno. Tracce che ci suggeriscono una guida spedita e per nulla indecisa. Le zone più "smosse" della Superficie Lunare, invece, ci indicano, i punti di stazionamento, di (eventuale) slittamento e di sosta per l'esecuzione di esperimenti del Rover.
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Luna17-Video.jpgThe "Nest" of Lunokhod-1 (video picture)177 visiteOver 20.000 low-resolution (LR) video pictures were transmitted by Luna 17, primarily for use by the drivers to navigate the Rover. Note the usual horizontal scanlines of a TV camera, as opposed to the vertical scanlines of the cycloramic cameras.
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Luna21-E.jpgLuna 21 and Lunokhod 2: a new "Moon-Walk"103 visiteThe Lunar Rover stood 135 cm high and had a mass of 840 Kg. It was about 170 cm long and 160 cm wide and had 8 wheels, each with an independent suspension, motor and brake. The Rover had two speeds: ~1 km/hr and ~2 km/hr.
Lunokhod 2 was equipped with 3 TV cameras, one mounted high on the Rover for navigation, which could return HR images at different rates (3,2; 5,7; 10,9 or 21,1 seconds per frame). These images were used by a five-man team of controllers on Earth who sent driving commands to the Rover in real time.
Power was supplied by a solar panel on the inside of a round hinged lid which covered the instrument bay, which would charge the batteries when opened. A Polonium-210 isotopic heat source was used to keep the Rover warm during the Lunar Nights.
There also were 4 panoramic cameras mounted on the Rover.
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Luna21-Horz02-1.jpgThe "Nest" of Lunokhod-2157 visiteAt this point the main thrusters shut down and the secondary thrusters ignited, slowing the fall until the lander was 1,5 mt above the surface of the Moon, where the engine was cut off.
Landing occurred at 23:35 UT in LeMonnier Crater, located at 25,85° North and 30,45° East.
The Lander carried a bas relief of Lenin and the Soviet coat-of-arms.
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Lunokhod_2_Rover-00.jpgLunokhod Rover 1 from atop 84 visiteLunokhod 1 Rover in its final parking spot.MareKromium
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Lunokhod_2_Rover-2.jpgNever forgotten! The last image from Lunokhod 2 (small)86 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Lunokhod_2_Rover-3.jpgNever forgotten! The last image from Lunokhod 2 (EDM)112 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
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Lunokhod_2_Rover.jpgLook at that! The Lunokhod 2 Rover, from LRO129 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
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