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Soviet rover still there on the Moon, NASA photos prove
Photos of the Moon taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter clearly show the Lunokhod-2 the robot rover that landed on the celestial body in 1973 as part of the soviet space program.
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The images released by NASA this week show the record-long 35-kilometer track left by the machine. The rover itself shows up as a dark spot.
Knowing the history of the mission, it is possible to trace the rover's activities in fine detail, commented Phil Stooke from the University of Western Ontario, who was the first to find the correct photos.
He added: We can see where it measured the magnetic field, driving back and forth over the same route to improve the data. And we can also see where it drove into a small crater, and accidentally covered its heat radiator with soil as it struggled to get out again. That ultimately caused it to overheat and stop working.
Commenting on the news in Stookes blog, veteran Russian planetary scientist Sasha Basilevsky corrected the Canadian astronomer, saying the dark spot was actually a marking of the Lunokhod turning in one place. Stooke concurred with the interpretation.
Lunokhod-2 was the second soviet automatic rover, which landed on the Moon on January 15, 1973 as part of the Luna-21 mission. It was identical to its predecessor Lunokhod-1, which reached the moon and returned the first-ever samples of lunar soil obtained by humankind in 1970.
Soviet rover still there on the Moon, NASA photos prove - RT Top Stories
Photos of the Moon taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter clearly show the Lunokhod-2 the robot rover that landed on the celestial body in 1973 as part of the soviet space program.
Yahoo StumbleUpon Google Live Technorati
del.icio.us Digg Reddit Mixx Propeller
The images released by NASA this week show the record-long 35-kilometer track left by the machine. The rover itself shows up as a dark spot.
Knowing the history of the mission, it is possible to trace the rover's activities in fine detail, commented Phil Stooke from the University of Western Ontario, who was the first to find the correct photos.
He added: We can see where it measured the magnetic field, driving back and forth over the same route to improve the data. And we can also see where it drove into a small crater, and accidentally covered its heat radiator with soil as it struggled to get out again. That ultimately caused it to overheat and stop working.
Commenting on the news in Stookes blog, veteran Russian planetary scientist Sasha Basilevsky corrected the Canadian astronomer, saying the dark spot was actually a marking of the Lunokhod turning in one place. Stooke concurred with the interpretation.
Lunokhod-2 was the second soviet automatic rover, which landed on the Moon on January 15, 1973 as part of the Luna-21 mission. It was identical to its predecessor Lunokhod-1, which reached the moon and returned the first-ever samples of lunar soil obtained by humankind in 1970.
Soviet rover still there on the Moon, NASA photos prove - RT Top Stories
