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probes returned with a total of
11.5 oz (326 g) of rock. Then, in
November 1970, the Soviet lander
Luna 17 arrived at a large lunar
plain called the Sea of Rains (many
lunar areas are named after the
weather conditions they were once
thought to influence on Earth).
Luna 17 carried the remote-
controlled rover Lunokhod 1
(Lunokhod means “moonwalker”).
This was the first wheeled vehicle
to traverse an extraterrestrial world,
arriving about eight months before
the first Apollo buggy. The concept
behind it was simple—instead of
sending moon rocks to Earth, the
rover would do the analysis there.
Remote-controlled explorer
The Lunokhod rover was 7½-ft
(2.3-m) long and resembled a
motorized bathtub. The wheels
were independently powered so
that they could retain traction on
the rough lunar terrain. Lunokhod
was equipped with video cameras
that sent back TV footage of the
moon. An X-ray spectrometer
was used to analyze the chemical
composition of rocks, and a device
called a penetrometer was pushed
into the lunar regolith (soil) to
measure its density.
Lunokhod was powered by
batteries that were charged by day
using an array of solar panels that
folded out from the top of the rover.
At night, a source of radioactive
polonium inside the machine actedSee also: The Space Race 242–49 ■ Exploring the solar system 260–67 ■ Understanding comets 306–11 ■
Studying Pluto 314–17
THE TRIUMPH OF TECHNOLOGY
The Soviet Lunokhod 1 rover, seen
here in tests on Earth, was the first
rover ever to land on an alien world—its
predecessor, Lunokhod 0, was launched
in 1969 but never reached orbit.as a heater to keep the machinery
working. The rover received
commands from controllers on
Earth about where to go and when
to perform experiments. A human
might have done a better job,
but rovers could stay in space for
months on end, and did not require
food and water from Earth.
Lunokhod 1 was designed
to work for three months, but
lasted almost 11. In January 1973,
Lunokhod 2 landed in the Le
Monnier Crater on the edge of the
Sea of Serenity. By June, Lunokhod
2 had traveled a total of 24 miles
(39 km), a record that would stand
for more than three decades.Martian walker
As Lunokhod 1 was exploring the
moon, the Soviet space program
was eyeing an even greater prize:
a rover on Mars. In December 1971,
two Soviet spacecraft, code-named
Mars 2 and Mars 3, sent modules
to land on the red planet. Mars 2
crashed, but Mars 3 made a
successful touchdown—the first-
ever landing on Mars. However,
it lost all communications just
14.5 seconds later, probably due
to damage from an intense dust
storm. Scientists never found out
what happened to Mars 3’s cargo:
a Prop-M rover, a tiny 10-lb (4.5-kg)
vehicle designed to walk on two
ski-shaped feet. It was powered
through a 50-ft (15-m) umbilical
cord, and once on the surface was
designed to take readings of the
Martian soil. It is unlikely that ❯❯Over time you could terraform
Mars to look like Earth ...
So it’s a fixer-upper of a planet.
Elon Musk
Canadian space entrepreneur