Lunokhod 1 was the first successful rover designed to explore other worlds. It was delivered to the lunar surface on November 17, 1970 aboard the Luna-17 lander. It was operated by remote control operators in the Soviet Union and traveled more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) in almost 10 months of its operation. For comparison, the Mars Opportunity spacecraft took about six years to achieve the same performance.
Space Race Participants
In the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in a "space race," with each side seeking to be the first to send a man to the moon as a way to show the world their technological capabilities. As a result, each side managed to do something first - the first man (the Soviet Union) was launched into space, the first two and three people were launched into space (the United States), the first docking in orbit (the United States) was carried out, and finally, landing of the first crew on the Moon (United States).
The Soviet Union pinned its hopes on sending a man to the moon with the Probe rockets. However, after a series of failed test launches, including a fatal launch site explosion in 1968, the Soviet Union instead began focusing on other lunar programs. Among them was the program of landing in the automatic mode of the spacecraft on the lunar surface and remote control of the rover.
Here is a list of the successes of the Soviets' lunar program: Luna-3 (with its help the first image of the far side of the Moon was obtained), Luna-9 (this device made a soft landing for the first time in 1966, that is, three years before the flight of Apollo 11 and the landing of the astronauts to the Moon), as well as Luna-16 (this apparatus returned to Earth with lunar soil samples in 1970). And Luna 17 delivered a remotely controlled rover to the Moon.
Landing and descent of the device to the lunar surface
The Luna-17 spacecraft successfully launched on November 10, 1970, and five days later found itself in the lunar orbit. After a soft landing in the area of the Sea of Rains, the Lunokhod-1 aboard descended on the ramp to the lunar surface.
"Lunokhod 1 is a lunar rover, in shape it resembles a barrel with a convex lid, and it moves with the help of eight independent wheels," was noted in a short message from NASA about this flight. "The lunar rover is equipped with a conical antenna, a precisely directed cylindrical antenna, four television cameras, and a special device for influencing the lunar surface in order to study the density of the lunar soil and conduct mechanical tests."
This rover was powered by a solar battery, and in the cold night time, its operation was provided by a heater that worked on the radioactive isotope polonium-210. At this point, the temperature dropped to minus 150 degrees Celsius (238 degrees Fahrenheit). The moon always faces with one of its sides to the Earth, and therefore daylight hours at most points on its surface lasts about two weeks. Night time also lasts two weeks. According to the plan, this rover was supposed to work for three lunar days. It surpassed the original operational plans and operated for 11 lunar days - its work ended on October 4, 1971, that is, 14 years after the first satellite of the Soviet Union was launched into low-Earth orbit.
According to NASA, by the time of the end of its mission, Lunokhod-1 covered approximately 10.54 kilometers (6.5 miles), it transmitted 20,000 television images and 200 television panoramas to Earth. In addition, more than 500 studies of the lunar soil were carried out with its help.
Lunokhod-1 legacy
The success of Lunokhod-1 was repeated by Lunokhod-2 in 1973, and the second vehicle had already covered the lunar surface for approximately 37 kilometers (22.9 miles). It took the rover Opportunity 10 years to show the same result on Mars. The image of the landing site of Lunokhod-1 was obtained using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter lunar space probe with a high-resolution camera on board. For example, the images taken in 2012 clearly show the descent vehicle, the Lunokhod itself and its trace on the lunar surface.
The rover's retro-reflector made a very surprising "leap" in 2010 when scientists sent a laser signal at it, indicating that it was not damaged by moon dust or other elements.
Lasers are used to measure the exact distance from the Earth to the Moon, and lasers have also been used for this in the Apollo program.
After Lunokhod-2, no other spacecraft made a soft landing until the Chinese, as part of their space program, launched the Chang'e-3 spacecraft with the Yuytu lunar rover. Although "Yuytu" stopped moving after the second moonlit night, it continued to remain operational and ceased to function only 31 months after the start of its mission, and thus far surpassed the previous record.
