Lunokhod 1 traverse

Lunokhod 1 · 1970 CE – 1971 CE · The Moon

Lunokhod 1 traverse — Lunokhod 1 · 1970 CE – 1971 CE · The Moon — Recorded expedition route · schematic map

Land a remote-controlled rover in the Sea of Rains and drive it from Earth for three lunar days, testing the soil and its chemistry along the way.

Historical context

Babakin's Lavochkin bureau, with a chassis from the VNII Transmash institute, built an eight-wheeled rover first conceived for the Soviet piloted landing plans. Luna 17 landed it in the Sea of Rains on 17 November 1970. Two five-man crews in the Crimea drove it by television, with a delay of several seconds, for eleven lunar days, until contact was lost in September 1971; its French laser reflector was found again in 2010.

The voyage, step by step

  1. Luna 17 sets down

    17 November 1970

    At 03:46:50 UTC on 17 November 1970, 06:46 Moscow time, Luna 17 lands in the Sea of Rains and lowers its ramps onto the dust.

  2. Down the ramp

    17 November 1970

    At 06:27 UTC on 17 November 1970 a tub on eight wire-mesh wheels rolls down the ramp: Lunokhod 1, which Siddiqi's history calls the first mobile vehicle to travel on another planetary body.

  3. Five men at a screen

    1970 CE

    Two crews, each of commander, driver, navigator, engineer and antenna operator, take turns steering the rover from the Crimea, every command answered seconds late.

  4. Pressing the ground

    1971 CE

    Halt after halt, a cone penetrometer presses into the ground while an X-ray spectrometer reads the soil's chemistry.

  5. Ten kilometres on another world

    14 September 1971

    On 14 September 1971 the last session with the rover ends. Built for three lunar days, it has worked eleven lunar days and sent back more than 20,000 television pictures.

  6. A mirror found again

    1971 CE

    The French laser reflector on the rover answers Earth in December 1970, then is lost to most observatories, until images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show in 2010 where the rover stopped.

Outcome

Lunokhod 1 worked for eleven lunar days, from 17 November 1970 to 14 September 1971, and drove 10.54 km by the Soviet count, 9.93 km on orbiter images; its French reflector still returns laser pulses.

Lunokhod 1

Soviet rover driven from Earth on the Moon from 1970 to 1971; Siddiqi calls it the first mobile vehicle to travel on another planetary body.

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Sources

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