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Lunokhod ((ロシア語:''Луноход''), "Moonwalker") was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. 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 planned to 1977 Lunokhod 3 (Lunokhod No.205) was never launched. The successful missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions. The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the Soviet manned moon missions during Moon race. Instead, they were used as remote-controlled robots for exploration of the lunar surface and return its pictures after the successful Apollo manned lunar landings and cancellation of Soviet manned moon program. The Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by Luna spacecraft, which were launched by Proton-K rockets. The moon lander part of the Luna spacecraft for Lunokhods were similar to the ones for sample return missions. The Lunokhods were designed by Alexander Kemurdzhian at Lavochkin. Not until the 1997 Mars Pathfinder was another remote-controlled vehicle put on an extraterrestrial body. In 2010, nearly forty years after the 1971 loss of signal from Lunokhod 1, the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed its tracks and final location, and researchers, using a telescopic pulsed-laser rangefinder, detected the robot's retroreflector. ==Development== Lunokhod's original primary mission was the back-up for L3 manned moon expeditions and for later Zvezda lunar base. For mission safety, weeks before the manned mission on LK lander, an LK-R lander in unmanned L3 lunar expedition complex and two Lunokhod automated rovers would be sent to the Moon for preliminar study of surface around LK-R and LK sites, for work as radio beacons for precision landings of LK-R and LK, and for visual estimate of status of them. LK-R used as a reserve escape craft in case of disability to start from Moon of LK and Lunokhods used by cosmonaut for transfer to LK-R in necessity and for regular research. This manned version of Lunokhod were additionally equipped with oxygen stock with hose socket, standing pads and manual control for the cosmonaut in front part. In mid-1968, at the facility KIP-10 or NIP-10 (КИП-10 or НИП-10)〔(Луноходы (History of Lunokhods in NIP-10) )〕 in the secret village Shkolnoye (:ru:Школьное (Крым) - closed town Simferopol-28), near Simferopol, a lunodrom (лунодром - moondrome) was built. It covered an area of one hectare (120 meters by 70 meters) and was very similar to some parts of the lunar surface. 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.〔(Photo of crater on a old soviet moondrome. )〕 The whole area was surrounded with bricks, painted in gray and black. It was used to analyze problems with the Lunokhod chassis and to cosmonaut's skill of control the one.〔http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8994008〕 Closed town Simferopol-28 - the facility was the most significant tracking facility in the Soviet Union, contains the largest number of antennas, the largest area, and the most personnel of any of the Soviet tracking facilities. 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. Additionally, this facility was support all lunar programs of Soviet Union in association with the Evpatoria Deep Space Tracking Facility,.〔NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION CENTER June 1969 (SIMFEROPOL SPACEFLIGHT CENTER )〕〔(Infinity Beckoned by Jay Gallentine )〕 At least four complete vehicles were constructed, with the serial numbers 201, 203, 204 and 205. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lunokhod programme」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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