Soviet Luna Missions |
Soviet Luna Missions |
May 4 2006, 03:05 AM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 172 Joined: 17-March 06 Member No.: 709 |
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I thought that it was time to start up a discussion of what we know, or would like to know, about the Soviet Luna Missions. To start off, I have heard many a reference to the landing system utilized by the early landers, such as Luna 9. However, I have yet to find a report, or even a diagram, that shows the sequence of events, or such details as the air bags. If such references do not exist, I hope that some of the UMSF community have Russian contacts that could lead us to the source material before it ends up in the dust bin of history. In addition, I heard of an effort several years ago to obtain ALL of the imagery from Lunakhods 1 and 2. Does anyone know if that effort was able to secure that data? Also, as far as Lunas 15, 18 and 23, the sample-return missions that didn't quite make it home, are there any official reports "out there" that detail what actually occurred to those missions? Or will we have to wait for the high-resolution images from the LRO to determine their fates? Another Phil |
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May 15 2006, 04:02 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 378 Joined: 21-April 05 From: Portugal Member No.: 347 |
Thanks all for the info and kind words!
I just found this on the internet: http://selena.sai.msu.ru At least for me it's a new page! -------------------- _______________________
www.astrosurf.com/nunes |
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Guest_DonPMitchell_* |
May 15 2006, 04:35 PM
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#3
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Guests |
Thanks all for the info and kind words! I just found this on the internet: http://selena.sai.msu.ru At least for me it's a new page! Yeah, I got a few of my catalog images there, it's where Lipsky worked. I've had indirect dealings with them. Look at the Russian site, not the English versions. There's a nice set of reports on Luna probes here:Planetary Science and here:Luna Probes |
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May 15 2006, 06:43 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
Don:
Perhaps, in your researches into the Soviet moon probes, you've come across some details which might relate to a subject we previously discussed on here. Bruce Moomaw has managed to persuade us that the hard-landing Luna vehicles used some form of airbags during the landing sequence - an element of that process which was new to most of us! Although it's fairly obvious where the bags must have been (in a splittable 'sock' over the ball of the lander) there are still very few references to just *how* the darn things worked (or didn't). Have you come across these air-bags, or a landing sequence which refers to them? Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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May 15 2006, 07:22 PM
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#5
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Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Admin Posts: 4405 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
Bruce Moomaw has managed to persuade us that the hard-landing Luna vehicles used some form of airbags during the landing sequence - an element of that process which was new to most of us! A Have you come across these air-bags, or a landing sequence which refers to them? Bob Shaw This is correct: "Luna 9 had a mass on release from the upper stage of 1602 kg. The KTDU main engine had a thrust of 4500 kgf and 847 kg of propellant was loaded. A total of 6 seconds of burn time was allocated for mid-course manoeuvres and 45 seconds for the lunar landing braking manoeuvre. After the braking manoeuvre, with the probe some distance over the lunar surface, the burn-out mass of the entire spacecraft was 430 kg. After the impact air bag had cushioned the final bouncing impact on the surface, the final mass of the probe on the surface was 79.5 kg The television camera aboard had a resolution of 15-20 mm on objects 2 m from the camera. Batteries provided power for five days of operation on the surface, with one hour of data transmissions back to earth per day." http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lunae6.htm -------------------- |
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