Russia Plans Ambitious Robotic Lunar Mission
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman - Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Aerospace Engineering Engineering Mechanics |
| Special Topic(s): |
History of Technology |
| Learning Resource Type: | Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: | WWW |
| Author(s): |
Craig Covault
Organization: Aviation Week |
| Description: | June 4, 2006 article from Aviation Week. Excerpt: "Russia, which pioneered and then abandoned robotic exploration of the Moon after loss of the Space Race and collapse of the Soviet Union, is starting the development of its first lunar mission in 30 years. The ambitious flight, entering initial design, will include a lunar orbiter that, under the current plan, will also simultaneously deploy 13 probes across diverse regions of the lunar surface. At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union achieved many firsts in robotic lunar exploration. Between 1958-76, the USSR attempted the launch of 60 robotic lunar missions. Roughly 30 involved launch or trajectory problems, less of a challenge today, while about 10 failed on or near the Moon. About 20, however, were a total or partial success. Major Soviet achievements included the first lunar flyby in 1959; the first lunar far-side photos in 1960; the first semi-soft lander to return images from the surface in 1966; a series of successful lunar orbiters starting in 1966; three robotic sample returns in 1970, '72 and '76; and two Lunokhod rovers in 1970 and '73. The two Lunokhods, nearly the size of Volkswagen Beetles, roved 6 and 23 mi. across the lunar surface, respectively. The Soviets then turned their attention to robotic Venus exploration, where they also had great success, and Mars exploration, which largely failed. No Soviet lunar mission was launched after 1976 and no planetary missions were flown after the Mars 96 launch failure. In the meantime, the U.S. has launched major missions to Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and to asteroids and comets." |
| Rating: | No Rating |
| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | Lunar missions, lunar orbit, space exploration |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | 2008 |
| Platform/Format: | WWW |
| Cost: | Free |
| Download URL: | http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic... |
| Metadata: | IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
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