1/18/2006: Lunokhod 1

Undertoad · 01-18-2006, 08:35 AM

Luno-what? Until xoB suggested this item from the Astronomy Pic of the Day, I'd never heard of this thing.

33 years later, it might look like this:

...that's one of the Mars rovers that IotD watched in 2003. But much earlier, in 1970, the Russians sent up that black and white deal there, Lunokhod 1, the first unmanned explorer on the moon. (Or, obviously, on any body in outer space!)

It ran on solar cells and lived up there for almost a whole year. Comparing it to the modern rover, it's amazing to see what's the same - what decisions they made in a different culture in 1970, that were the same decisions in 2003. Turns out it's OK to have the wires on the outside, who knew?

This gent's page contains a few of the thousands of images sent back from Lunokhod.

So whose idea was it to put two cameras right on the front, looking all like eyes?

01-18-2006, 08:35 AM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	1/18/2006: Lunokhod 1 Luno-what? Until xoB suggested this item from the Astronomy Pic of the Day, I'd never heard of this thing. 33 years later, it might look like this: ...that's one of the Mars rovers that IotD watched in 2003. But much earlier, in 1970, the Russians sent up that black and white deal there, Lunokhod 1, the first unmanned explorer on the moon. (Or, obviously, on any body in outer space!) It ran on solar cells and lived up there for almost a whole year. Comparing it to the modern rover, it's amazing to see what's the same - what decisions they made in a different culture in 1970, that were the same decisions in 2003. Turns out it's OK to have the wires on the outside, who knew? This gent's page contains a few of the thousands of images sent back from Lunokhod. So whose idea was it to put two cameras right on the front, looking all like eyes?

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