On January 15, 1973, having completed 40 revolutions around the Earth’s natural satellite, the Luna 21 space station
During landing, the Lunokhod-2 navigation systemdamaged, so the members of the mission control on Earth had to focus only on the data received by the cameras - the environment and the position of the Sun. However, during its operation from January 18 to May 10, the rover traveled, according to various estimates, from 39 to 42 km and set a record for the distance of movement outside the Earth, which lasted more than 40 years. Only in 2014 or 2015 (depending on the assessment of the Lunokhod-2 route) did the Opportunity rover beat it.
Record holders for the distance traveled outside the Earth. Image: NASA, JPL
How is Lunokhod-2 arranged and worked?
The design of "Lunokhod-2" did not differ much fromits predecessor, which was delivered by the Luna 17 mission to the satellite in November 1970. The main change: the remote camera, which was placed at the level of human growth, to make it easier to control the movements of the rover on the surface of the moon.
Height of both rovers (excluding remote camera)was 135 cm, and the mass of the second of them was 840 kg. Lunokhods moved along the surface of the satellite with the help of two pairs of four wheels installed along the body about 170 cm long and about 160 cm wide. It is interesting that each of the wheels is equipped with an independent suspension, its own motor and brake.
Another change made by the developersfollowing the results of the first mission, the ship's power system. Unlike its predecessor equipped with a silicon solar panel, Lunokhod 2 used gallium arsenide cells that produced up to 1 kW of power. At the same time, nuclear fuel was used to heat the device during a lunar night, which lasted 14 days.
The research station was run by a teamconsisting of five people. They were on Earth, watching the movement of the robot with the help of three television cameras, including one installed on a remote tower. In this case, the devices transmitted high-resolution images at different speeds: one frame in 3.2, 5.7, 10.9 or 21.1 seconds. In addition, four cameras made it possible to take pictures of the surface of the moon.
"Lunokhod-2". Image: Lavochkin NPO
Why was the lunar mission necessary?
During the mission, Lunokhod 2 made 93panoramic images of the lunar surface and about 89 thousand photographs taken in “television” mode. In addition, the device sent stereoscopic data to Earth, which made it possible to study the relief features of the Lemonnier crater and the structure of the lunar regolith (soil). The results showed for the first time that rocks in the “marine” (at the bottom of giant craters) and “continental” parts of the Moon are significantly different.
The mission's scientific equipment included a magnetometer.With its help, Lunokhod-2 carried out the first survey of changes in the Moon's magnetic field in different parts of the route and discovered its inhomogeneity. The value in the studied area of Lemonnier Bay turned out to be 20–30 γ on average. At the same time, field anomalies were observed in craters larger than 50 m.
Another study was related toastronomical observations and the brightness of the sky above the moon. The astrophotometer found that the luminosity of the sky in the optical range of the spectrum turned out to be much higher than previously thought, and lower in the ultraviolet. This indicated that the Moon is surrounded by many dust particles that scatter sunlight and radiation reflected by the Earth.
The landing module of the station "Luna-21" in the panorama taken by "Lunokhod-2"
Observation from orbit
April 20, 1973 "Lunokhod-2" drove intosmall funnel. At this point, the lid of the compartment that contained plutonium and was used for heating was not tightly closed and scooped up some regolith. At the end of the lunar day, when the lid was closed, soil particles got inside the moon rover. The dust caused the lunar rover to overheat and its devices to fail. As a result, on May 10, communication with the device was terminated, and the mission was completed.
Lunokhod-2 route on LRO images. Image: NASA / GSFC / ASU / Sergei Gerasimenko / Sasha Basilevsky
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera -An automatic interplanetary station launched in 2009 by NASA took several images of the lunar surface in the early 2010s, which showed the exact location of both the Luna-21 lander and the Lunokhod-2 itself. The device is still “parked” at the bottom of Lemonnier Crater at 25.830°N, 30.914°E.
In addition, space observations from orbitallowed to restore the entire path traveled by the lunar rover. Recall that the navigation devices of the device failed during landing. It was thanks to these observations that it was possible to clarify both the route itself and the distance traveled by Lunokhod-2 on the surface of the Moon: the trail left by the rover's wheels is still visible from orbit with the right lighting.
The route of "Lunokhod-2" on the surface of the moon. Image: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
To be continued?
The mission "Lunokhod-2" was supposed to have a continuation:it was assumed that the third version of the device, developed by the Lavochkin Design Bureau NPO and equipped with additional scientific instruments, would reach the lunar surface in 1977 aboard the Luna-25 space station. However, the launch was canceled and the Soviet lunar program ended in 1976 with the delivery of the last batch of lunar regolith to Earth.
The Luna 25 mission was only revivedRoscosmos after the collapse of the USSR. It is assumed that this mission will deliver a new lunar rover to the circumpolar region of the Moon and will be the first step towards creating a lunar base. Although the space agency has repeatedly announced different launch dates, the mission has been postponed several times.
According to the latest information provided by representativesRoskosmos and the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, all improvements should be completed by the summer of 2023, and the launch may be scheduled as early as 2023. If all goes well, the Russian research module will start moving on the lunar surface 50 years after its predecessor. Previously, Hi-Tech talked about this mission and the plans of other states to explore the moon in 2023.
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Cover image: Lavochkin NPO