![]() ![]() During the lunar nights, the lid was closed and a polonium-210 radioisotope heater unit kept the internal components at operating temperature. The power was supplied during the lunar day by a GaAs solar array on the inside of a round hinged lid which covered the instrument bay, which would charge the batteries when opened. The rover ran during the lunar day, stopping occasionally to recharge its batteries using its solar panels. The metal chassis themselves were designed by Alexander Kemurdzhian. The Lunokhods were designed under the leadership of Georgy Babakin at Lavochkin design bureau. They were equipped with a cone-shaped antenna, a highly directional helical antenna, television cameras, and special extendable devices to impact the lunar soil for density measurements and mechanical property tests, plus a scientific payload which varied with the mission. The Lunokhod rovers were lunar vehicles formed of a tub-like compartment with a large convex lid on eight independently-powered wheels. Īt least four complete vehicles were constructed, with the serial numbers 201, 203, 204 and 205. Additionally, this facility supported all lunar programmes of the Soviet Union, in association with the Evpatoria Deep Space Tracking Facility. The facility was one of a network of ten facilities which contain earth satellite vehicle tracking equipment and provide command/control for Soviet near-space civil and military events. Ĭlosed town Simferopol-28 contained the most significant tracking facility in the Soviet Union, having the largest number of antennas, the largest area, and the most personnel of any of the Soviet tracking facilities. It was used to analyze problems with the Lunokhod chassis and cosmonaut's skill to control one. The whole area was surrounded with bricks, painted in gray and black. It was constructed using more than 3,000 cubic meters of soil, and included 54 craters up to 16 m in diameter and around about 160 rocks of various sizes. It covered an area of one hectare (120 meters by 70 meters) and was very similar to some parts of the lunar surface. For mission safety, weeks before the human mission on a LK lander, an LK-R uncrewed lander from the 元 lunar expedition complex and two Lunokhod automated rovers would be sent to the Moon for a preliminary study of the surface around LK-R and LK sites, to act as radio beacons for precision landings of LK-R and LK, and for a visual evaluation of the status of the site. ![]() Lunokhod's original primary mission was to be the back-up for 元 crewed Moon expeditions and for the later Zvezda lunar base. Parabolic dish TNA-400 and abandoned NIP-10 The Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by Luna spacecraft, which were launched by Proton-K rockets. Instead, they were used as remote-controlled robots for exploration of the lunar surface and return its pictures after the Apollo human lunar landings and cancellation of the Soviet human Moon programme. The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the Soviet human Moon missions during the Moon race. The successful missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions. The 1969 Lunokhod 1A (Lunokhod 0, Lunokhod No. 201) was destroyed during launch, the 1970 Lunokhod 1 and the 1973 Lunokhod 2 landed on the Moon, and Lunokhod 3 (Lunokhod No. 205, planned for 1977) was never launched. Lunokhod 1 was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on an extraterrestrial body. Lunokhod (Russian: Луноход, IPA:, "Moonwalker") was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 19. ![]()
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