Soviet Luna Missions Options

[PhilHorzempa]

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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

[Phil Stooke]

Lunas 15, 16, 18 and 20 carried twin cameras mounted on either side of the hinged sampling mechanism, to provide a stereo view of the sampling area. Each camera viewed a strip extending from the sampling area to the horizon on its side of the sampler. By combining the two you could get a full pan.
Alas - 15 crashed, 16 landed at night (and its lights failed), 18 crashed... but 20 did return images. I have several, including a tiny fragment of a pre-sampling image, and two views after sampling, as well as both horizon fragments.

After that the drill was redesigned - being out on a hinged arm it couldn't apply enough pressure to work effectively. The new drill was bolted to the side of the vehicle. Its extra weight meant the camera had to be removed. Also the old drill could swing sideways a bit to avoid a rock if needed, hence the value of a camera to look for hazards, but it wasn't needed with this fixed drill. Luna 23 landed hard and couldn't drill... but there was no camera. Luna 24 worked, but no camera.

Phil