| Piú viste - The Soviet "Moon Programme" |
Luna17-Horz28c.jpgLunokhod-1 rolls inside a small crater (2)114 visitenessun commento
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Zond-08-59-area.jpgLunar Surface from ZOND-8114 visitenessun commento
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Luna21-Horz01.jpgThe first picture of the Moon, from Luna-21: LeMonnier Crater113 visiteScientific instruments included a soil mechanics tester, solar X-ray experiment, an astrophotometer to measure visible and UV light levels, a magnetometer deployed in front of the Rover on the end of a 2,5 mt boom, a radiometer, a photodetector (Rubin-1) for laser detection experiments, and a French-supplied laser corner-reflector. The Lander and Rover together weighed 1814 Kg.
Mission Profile
The SL-12/D-1-e launcher put the spacecraft into Earth parking orbit followed by Translunar Injection. On 12 January 1973, Luna 21 was braked into a 90x100 Km orbit around the Moon. On 13 and 14 January, the perilune was lowered to 16 Km altitude. On 15 January, after 40 orbits, the braking rocket was fired at 16 Km altitude, and the craft went into free fall.
At an altitude of 750 mt, the main thrusters began firing, slowing the fall until a height of 22 mt was reached.
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Luna21-Video02.jpgThe floor of LeMonnier Crater (video frames) - (2)112 visitenessun commento
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Zond-07-15.jpgThe surface of the Moon, from ZOND-7 (2)111 visitenessun commento
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Zond-08-09.jpgLunar Limb and setting Earth, from ZOND-8 (2)109 visitenessun commento
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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.
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Zond-08-03-x.jpgAlmost full-Moon, from ZOND-8107 visitenessun commento
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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
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Luna21-Horz10.jpgThe walls of LeMonnier Crater104 visiteOn June 4, 1973, the Soviet Authorities announced that the Program was completed, leading to speculation that the vehicle probably failed in mid-May or could not be revived after the lunar night of May-June.
The Lunokhod-2 was not left in a position such that the laser retro-reflector could be used, thus indicating that the failure may have happened suddenly.
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Zond-07-12.jpgThe Earth, from ZOND-7103 visitenessun commento
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Luna21-Horz12-1.jpgRover tracks and the far distant walls of LeMonnier Crater103 visitenessun commento
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