Tank on the Moon!!?

According to new declassified information the Soviet Union launched two robots to the moon in the years 1970 through '73.

During the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a feverish competition to be the first to set foot on the moon. We know who won this race, but less about a secret chapter. The Soviets many not have sent a man to the moon, but they successfully guided two small robots by remote control from the earth. For 16 months between 1970 and 1973, these "Lunokhods" traveled more than thirty miles over the moon's surface. With the declassification of the former USSR space archives, along with recollections by several of the key participants in the Lunokhod program, the true story of the Russian lunar robots can finally be told.

science.discovery.com...

Cant wait till tuesday when this show hits the air.

I thought the Lunokhod program was pretty well-known. I remember seeing a replica as a kid at the Sydney Power House museum. Damn huge.

Maybe history got lost in the noise by the American moon landings. The Soviets made a lot of firsts in space exploration, just not the one that mattered to get imprinted in history like a manned moon landing.

[edit on 10-2-2008 by mattguy404]

I had never heard of this, but I guess thats just laziness on my part.
But I have to say the Russians never sease to amaze me.

I have known about the Lunokhod robotic rovers since the early 1970s. There were pictures of them in many of the space related books in my collection. I got to see a full-scale mock-up of a Lunokhod at a Soviet exhibition in Los Angeles around 1977. Recently, I purchased a 1/72nd scale model of one at a planetarium in Chicago.

This is a very good site regarding Lunokhod information complete with some of the best images I have seen from this mission.

Luna-17 landed on the Moon on November 15, 1970. The robotic rover, Lunokhod-1 rolled off the landing platform to explore the surface of the Moon for about a month. Two cycloramic cameras on either side of the rover were oriented for 180° horizontal panoramas (500 × 3000 pixels). These panoramas are sometimes geometrically warped to correct for the 15° tilt of the camera.

Source



Source

Forgot to add this map of Lunokhod 1's progress on the Moon.




selena.sai.msu.ru...

reply to post by sherpa

Well done Sherpa, great work
I would like to point out that russian today, as soviet yesterday, will never disclose what they really have done on the Moon: they were used to cover up all the stuff that was not strictly useful in order to feed their propaganda. So waht we can do now are mere speculations, but the truth is born, is living and will die in Moskow.

And it is just my luck
I do not get the science channel.

I just saw the program and was amazed by some of the images featured on the show. Very clearly, in several shots, images of a dome structure can be seen. It is apparent that the dome structure was right in front of the rover as it sat on the lander platform! This is why, as it stated in the program, the operator had a pulse of 140! Later on, we see images of both the dome and the lander platform as the rover backed up to get a better view of the structure.

This is just further evidence for what Richard C. Hoagland has known for years - that there are giant glass dome structures on the moon and NASA and apparently the Russian space program have known about but have covered up. Far more concrete evidence can be found in Hoagland's book, Dark Mission, a bestseller, and which sparked a media explosion in Russia just recently. His website is www.enterprisemission.com

More interesting are the structures on Mars - particularly in the Cydonia desert region. Check out the D&M pyramid. Ever hear about it? That should be your first question, why the hell haven't I heard of this!?

Your friend in truth,
Maat

Originally posted by mattguy404


Maybe history got lost in the noise by the American moon landings. The Soviets made a lot of firsts in space exploration, just not the one that mattered to get imprinted in history like a manned moon landing.

[edit on 10-2-2008 by mattguy404]

You mean the ones that America try to ignore!

There was always a lot of competition between America and Russia. America doesn't like to be beat so decide to hide certain things so not to lose face.

I don't understand why Countrys have to be so individual about this kind of thing. Why don't they get together and share infomation. By combining all the information we could be further advanced than what we are currently.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS

Are you sure we're talking about the same documentary -- the one on The Science Channel called "Tank on the Moon" -- because I went back to watch it again after reading your post (I still have it in my DVR) and I did not see any domes.

As for the pulse rate of Lunokhod's operator...I would think that being the first person to remotely drive a Lunar rover on the Moon would be enough to send almost anyone's pulse rate very high. Plus I believe the highest "driver" pulse rate of 140 came when the Lunokhod was accidentally driven into a crater that was very difficult to get out of (although they finally succeeded in freeing the probe).

By the way -- I find it interesting that they monitored the remote driver's vital signs. I suppose when you have a multi-million dollar experiment going on, it's prudent to make sure everything -- including the people -- are running smoothly.

reply to post by sherpa

Amazing-looking machine, pure steampunk. Like a Victorian bathtub on wheels.

You know, the Cold War had its benefits. A lot of research and development had to be carried out independently on either side of the Iron Curtain, so you often got two different - and equally workable, if not always equally efficient - solutions to the same design and engineering problems. I love, for example, the appearance of Cold War Soviet aircraft. Some of them were quite bizarre to look at, but they worked.

In today's globalized world, things look pretty much the same whether they were designed and built in Russia, the USA, France or even Iran. We're becoming horridly homogenized.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Regarding domes, you can read the following in the transcripts from the Apollo 12 mission. This was said when they were orbiting the moon:

03 15 50 38 CMP: Okay, wait a minute .... 66.3 by 54.7; that's what this was - 64.9 by 53 - -

03 15 50 53 LMP: Hey, look at that - look at this crazy thing! Look at that dome. Right here. That big... there.

Scroll down to page 129 in this document:
www.jsc.nasa.gov...

I am curious as to how that unit was powered. No solar cells seen. Was it nuclear?

reply to post by jpm1602


There were electric motors in each wheel hub. Solar cells are on the under side of the roof in the picture shown.

wow now THOSE are cool! wonder what the price tag on that was...not that i could ever afford it.

You could have bought the first one for $68,500 in 1993. A Sotheby's auction sold it -- already on the moon!

news.bbc.co.uk...

Cool, they played around in the desert!

We all know the moon isnt real!

LOL

reply to post by jpm1602


I was thinking the very same thing.
Nuclear powered it had to be to travel that distance on the moon, and the USSR did not care about fall out if the darn thing blew up during launch!

Originally posted by ziggystar60
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

Regarding domes, you can read the following in the transcripts from the Apollo 12 mission. This was said when they were orbiting the moon:

How long did it take you to mine that quote? "Domes" on the moon are natural features, well studied, and anything but secret:



If you had bothered to post the entire quote people would notice that the next line one second later explicitly indicates that they're looking at a natural feature like the one here.

03 15 50 53 _P Hey, look at that - look at this crazy thing! Look
at that dome. Right here. That big ... there.
03 15 51 O1 CDR Yes.
03 15 51 02 LMP Look at the cliffs.