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Soviet Luna Missions
PhilHorzempa
post May 4 2006, 03:05 AM
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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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Guest_DonPMitchell_*
post May 21 2006, 11:01 PM
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Beautiful work. If I ever can get my hands on the photographs or the signal, I will let you know!

I'm assuming that you're starting with the images published by Lipsky in the Atlas I and II, yes?


QUOTE (PhilHorzempa @ May 19 2006, 09:07 PM) *

Does anyone have images of the Moon produced by the Soviet Luna 19 and Luna 22
lunar orbiters? Wikipedia has images of the vehicles themselves, but no images of the Moon.

Also, it appears that the Luna 19 and 22 orbiters were Lunakhod vehicles with
no wheels, still attached to their propulsion stage.

The Wikipedia entries are as follows.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_19

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_22
Another Phil


Yes, the "heavy luna orbiters" were built in Lunokhod shells, but the camera system was especially made for these missions, a fish-eye linear camera with a rotating prism scanner and photomulitplier tube. The quality of the images was not bad.

Phil Stooke can tell you more than anyone else about this. I know the Luna-22 orbiter was maneuvered into a circular orbit only 25 km above the surface, for sensitive measurements of mass concentrations. The Moon is very "lumpy". The cameras were used in part to get horizon lines during these orbits.

You can find some of the images in my catalog: Soviet Catalog. The Luna-22 panoramas are pieced together from films scanned by Phil Stooke.
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_*
post May 23 2006, 01:19 AM
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QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 21 2006, 11:01 PM) *
Beautiful work. If I ever can get my hands on the photographs or the signal, I will let you know!


I know the Luna-22 orbiter was maneuvered into a circular orbit only 25 km above the surface, for sensitive measurements of mass concentrations. The Moon is very "lumpy". The cameras were used in part to get horizon lines during these orbits.


Interesting. One of the side revelations from that very informative Sept. 2000 "JBIS" article on the 1963-68 Soviet Luna missions is that the first evidence of the lunar mascons actually came from tracking of Luna 10, not Lunar Orbiter 1. (The article also claims that Luna 10's gamma-ray spectrometer, rather than Surveyor 5, provided the first evidence of the Moon's basaltic composition -- but I remember reading at the time that the Soviets' early conclusion was that it had shown the moon to be granitic instead. But then, I've always been highly suspicious of the accuracy of Soviet scientific instruments -- also including their initial interpretation of Venera 8's gamma-ray data as granite.)
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Guest_DonPMitchell_*
post May 23 2006, 03:26 AM
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QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ May 22 2006, 06:19 PM) *
Interesting. One of the side revelations from that very informative Sept. 2000 "JBIS" article on the 1963-68 Soviet Luna missions is that the first evidence of the lunar mascons actually came from tracking of Luna 10, not Lunar Orbiter 1. (The article also claims that Luna 10's gamma-ray spectrometer, rather than Surveyor 5, provided the first evidence of the Moon's basaltic composition -- but I remember reading at the time that the Soviets' early conclusion was that it had shown the moon to be granitic instead. But then, I've always been highly suspicious of the accuracy of Soviet scientific instruments -- also including their initial interpretation of Venera 8's gamma-ray data as granite.)


The conclusion from Luna-10 was that the Moon was basaltic. The instrument was a 32-channel analyzer connected to a sodium iodide scintillator. The crystal was enclosed in an anti-coincidence shield for the elimination of charged-particle counts. Spectra were obtained at many orbital positions, to compare the mare and "continental" lunar crust. A year earlier, an overall gamma spectrum of the Moon was measured from an Earth orbiting satellite, the stranded E-6 probe, Kosmos-60.

The gamma spectrometers on Venera-8 to Vega were identical instruments, so the unusual spectrum from the Venera-8 site is not assumed to be "incorrect". With so few places on the surface of Venus sampled, it is entirely possible that there is variation in the composition of its crust.

The energy spectrum measured by these devices includes the three signatures of Potassium, Uranium and Thorium, the only three naturally occuring radioactive elements. Background levels are measured before approaching the Moon or Venus, to eliminate the effect of braking x-rays caused by cosmic rays colliding with the hull of the spacecraft. They are also calibrated against samples of terrestrial rocks of course, where the ratios of K U Th are well known.
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ljk4-1
post May 23 2006, 01:42 PM
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QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 22 2006, 11:26 PM) *
The conclusion from Luna-10 was that the Moon was basaltic. The instrument was a 32-channel analyzer connected to a sodium iodide scintillator. The crystal was enclosed in an anti-coincidence shield for the elimination of charged-particle counts. Spectra were obtained at many orbital positions, to compare the mare and "continental" lunar crust. A year earlier, an overall gamma spectrum of the Moon was measured from an Earth orbiting satellite, the stranded E-6 probe, Kosmos-60.

The gamma spectrometers on Venera-8 to Vega were identical instruments, so the unusual spectrum from the Venera-8 site is not assumed to be "incorrect". With so few places on the surface of Venus sampled, it is entirely possible that there is variation in the composition of its crust.

The energy spectrum measured by these devices includes the three signatures of Potassium, Uranium and Thorium, the only three naturally occuring radioactive elements. Background levels are measured before approaching the Moon or Venus, to eliminate the effect of braking x-rays caused by cosmic rays colliding with the hull of the spacecraft. They are also calibrated against samples of terrestrial rocks of course, where the ratios of K U Th are well known.


According to JANE'S SOLAR SYSTEM LOG (Andrew Wilson, Jane's Publishing, Inc.,
New York, 1987), the surface around Venera 8's landing site at Navka Planitia could
be a rare form of basalt, one with high potassium levels.

I like the term "anti-coincidence shield". Has so many potential uses.


--------------------
"After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance.
I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard,
and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does
not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is
indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have
no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft."

- Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853

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Posts in this topic
- PhilHorzempa   Soviet Luna Missions   May 4 2006, 03:05 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   We had quite a detailed discussion of the Luna 4 t...   May 4 2006, 06:27 AM
- - tasp   Luna 23 and Luna 18 were apparently damaged by h...   May 4 2006, 12:52 PM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (tasp @ May 4 2006, 08:52 AM) Luna ...   May 4 2006, 01:53 PM
||- - Dyche Mullins   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ May 4 2006, 06:53 AM...   May 4 2006, 08:42 PM
||- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (Dyche Mullins @ May 4 2006, 04:42 ...   May 4 2006, 09:09 PM
|- - tedstryk   QUOTE (tasp @ May 4 2006, 12:52 PM) Luna ...   May 4 2006, 02:45 PM
- - gndonald   The Astronautix.com website has a good timeline of...   May 4 2006, 02:08 PM
- - gndonald   This is a follow up to my earlier post (see above)...   May 4 2006, 04:54 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Following up on a couple of points here... I'm...   May 4 2006, 06:34 PM
- - ljk4-1   In the early 1990s, Andrew Lepage wrote in the onl...   May 4 2006, 07:20 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   If you REALLY like Luna 15 conspiracy theories, Al...   May 4 2006, 10:34 PM
- - gndonald   Hopefully the last word on Luna 15 conspiracies. T...   May 5 2006, 03:19 AM
- - 4th rock from the sun   Finally I've finished one of my projects: m...   May 6 2006, 01:48 AM
|- - tedstryk   QUOTE (4th rock from the sun @ May 6 2006, 01...   May 6 2006, 02:59 PM
||- - DonPMitchell   Very cool. Where did you find a good picture of f...   May 7 2006, 02:45 AM
||- - 4th rock from the sun   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 7 2006, 03:45 A...   May 7 2006, 11:05 AM
||- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (4th rock from the sun @ May 7 2006, 04...   May 9 2006, 10:02 AM
||- - 4th rock from the sun   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 9 2006, 11:02 A...   May 9 2006, 01:55 PM
||- - RJG   QUOTE (4th rock from the sun @ May 9 2006, 01...   May 9 2006, 07:54 PM
||- - 4th rock from the sun   QUOTE (RJG @ May 9 2006, 08:54 PM) MP3 is...   May 9 2006, 10:34 PM
||- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (4th rock from the sun @ May 9 2006, 03...   May 10 2006, 12:32 AM
||- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 9 2006, 08:32 P...   May 10 2006, 11:32 AM
||- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ May 10 2006, 04:32 A...   May 10 2006, 02:06 PM
||- - 4th rock from the sun   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ May 10 2006, 12:32 P...   May 10 2006, 09:23 PM
|- - gndonald   QUOTE (4th rock from the sun @ May 6 2006, 09...   May 7 2006, 06:05 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Here is a mosaic of Zond 3 images which I made a w...   May 7 2006, 08:19 PM
|- - tedstryk   Very impressive. This Zond image is another favor...   May 7 2006, 10:37 PM
||- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (tedstryk @ May 7 2006, 03:37 PM) V...   May 9 2006, 10:12 AM
||- - tedstryk   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 9 2006, 10:12 A...   May 9 2006, 10:25 AM
|- - 4th rock from the sun   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ May 7 2006, 09:19 PM...   May 10 2006, 11:45 PM
- - Decepticon   Thanks so much for posting that! I've bee...   May 11 2006, 01:21 AM
- - edstrick   I've wanted to play with the Luna 3 images for...   May 11 2006, 09:41 AM
- - 4th rock from the sun   Just to see how much of the Moon was covered by...   May 12 2006, 12:00 AM
- - DonPMitchell   Great Zond-3 mosaics! To answer you question ...   May 15 2006, 04:48 AM
- - Phil Stooke   4th Rock, I am very impressed with your Zond 3 mos...   May 15 2006, 06:42 AM
- - 4th rock from the sun   Thanks all for the info and kind words! I ju...   May 15 2006, 04:02 PM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (4th rock from the sun @ May 15 2006, 0...   May 15 2006, 04:35 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   Don: Perhaps, in your researches into the Soviet ...   May 15 2006, 06:43 PM
|- - tedstryk   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ May 15 2006, 06:43 PM) ...   May 15 2006, 07:22 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   Interestingly, the Astronautix.com page has a pict...   May 15 2006, 08:49 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   One of the cartoons we saw earlier (or at least I ...   May 15 2006, 10:59 PM
- - DonPMitchell   Yes indeed, the Soviets used airbags to land on th...   May 15 2006, 11:57 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Yeah, we discussed a lot of this over at (of all p...   May 16 2006, 01:23 AM
- - edstrick   I suspect that for the Luna-3 data, fourier or wav...   May 16 2006, 09:49 AM
|- - Bob Shaw   Don: Excellent information, thanks! I think I...   May 16 2006, 12:22 PM
||- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ May 16 2006, 05:22 AM) ...   May 16 2006, 03:20 PM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (edstrick @ May 16 2006, 02:49 AM) ...   May 16 2006, 02:35 PM
- - DonPMitchell   Here's a piece from Boris Chertok, describing ...   May 16 2006, 03:33 PM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 16 2006, 04:33 ...   May 16 2006, 03:46 PM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (djellison @ May 16 2006, 08:46 AM)...   May 16 2006, 04:16 PM
|- - Toma B   QUOTE (djellison @ May 16 2006, 05:46 PM)...   May 16 2006, 04:19 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   B)-->QUOTE(Toma B @ May 16 2006, 05:19 PM...   May 16 2006, 05:47 PM
- - PhilHorzempa   Does anyone have images of the Moon produced by th...   May 20 2006, 04:07 AM
- - 4th rock from the sun   Back to the Luna 3 images... I wasn't happy wi...   May 21 2006, 09:01 PM
|- - Bob Shaw   Ricardo: Great work! Do you think any of tho...   May 21 2006, 09:09 PM
||- - 4th rock from the sun   QUOTE (Bob Shaw @ May 21 2006, 10:09 PM) ...   May 21 2006, 10:33 PM
|- - tedstryk   Beautiful!   May 21 2006, 09:24 PM
- - DonPMitchell   Beautiful work. If I ever can get my hands on the...   May 21 2006, 11:01 PM
|- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 21 2006, 11:01 ...   May 23 2006, 01:19 AM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ May 22 2006, 06:19 P...   May 23 2006, 03:26 AM
|- - ljk4-1   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ May 22 2006, 11:26 ...   May 23 2006, 01:42 PM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ May 23 2006, 06:42 A...   May 23 2006, 03:33 PM
- - Phil Stooke   The Luna 19 and 22 cameras were not great from a s...   May 22 2006, 02:23 AM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ May 21 2006, 07:23 P...   May 22 2006, 05:46 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Don, could you please fill in a few more details a...   May 23 2006, 03:46 AM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ May 22 2006, 08:46 P...   May 23 2006, 05:22 AM
- - Phil Stooke   PhilHorzempa asked about Luna 19 and Luna 22 image...   May 23 2006, 06:53 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   There's been quite a lot written recently by B...   May 25 2006, 12:06 AM
- - 4th rock from the sun   Here's an updated Zond 3 mosaic. I did some re...   May 25 2006, 12:23 AM
|- - Ian R   Wow! Great work! Is that the eastern r...   May 25 2006, 03:23 AM
|- - ustrax   QUOTE (4th rock from the sun @ May 25 2006, 0...   May 25 2006, 08:31 AM
- - ilbasso   I think that has to be the first Russian image whe...   May 25 2006, 01:15 PM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (ilbasso @ May 25 2006, 06:15 AM) I...   May 26 2006, 06:54 PM
- - ljk4-1   Check this out - a scale model of Luna 24 complete...   Jun 3 2006, 06:33 PM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Jun 3 2006, 11:33 AM...   Jun 3 2006, 06:58 PM
|- - tedstryk   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ Jun 3 2006, 06:58 P...   Jun 3 2006, 10:35 PM
- - PhilHorzempa   I have looked through this thread and other Luna t...   Jun 8 2006, 04:07 AM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (PhilHorzempa @ Jun 7 2006, 09:07 P...   Jun 8 2006, 05:26 AM
|- - PhilHorzempa   QUOTE (DonPMitchell @ Jun 8 2006, 01:26 A...   Jul 21 2006, 03:41 AM
- - DonPMitchell   The wealth of information is in Russian. There ar...   Jul 21 2006, 06:40 AM
- - Phil Stooke   I have just made a polar pan of Luna 13's land...   Sep 25 2006, 06:00 PM
|- - tedstryk   Cool...I did something similar with Luna-9 a while...   Sep 25 2006, 09:03 PM
- - DonPMitchell   Very cool. Can't wait to see your book, Phil.   Sep 26 2006, 12:15 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Thanks. Book update: It's finished. The last...   Sep 26 2006, 12:58 AM
|- - DonPMitchell   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Sep 25 2006, 05:58 P...   Sep 26 2006, 02:05 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Here's the Luna 9 counterpart. A rougher land...   Sep 26 2006, 01:31 PM
- - djellison   "I'd like to thank the members of UMSF wi...   Sep 26 2006, 01:34 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Don - just Word. Cambridge does all the page setu...   Sep 26 2006, 03:03 PM
|- - Ian R   Phil, Is there any chance you would consider auth...   Sep 26 2006, 06:09 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Oddly enough I have considered that. But unfortun...   Sep 26 2006, 06:14 PM
- - nprev   Need an extra writer for some utility work? I...   Sep 27 2006, 01:44 AM
- - edstrick   Phil... absolutely INSIST on final galley proofs. ...   Sep 27 2006, 09:22 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Good point, ed... and thanks everyone for your sup...   Sep 27 2006, 01:19 PM
|- - tedstryk   I hope that the Luna 16 and 24 panoramas are in th...   Sep 27 2006, 02:28 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Don Mitchell also reported that information about ...   Sep 27 2006, 09:46 PM
|- - tedstryk   Did you have any luck digging up Luna-20 imagery? ...   Sep 27 2006, 10:15 PM
- - edstrick   Didn't one of the Luna sample return missions ...   Sep 28 2006, 09:28 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Lunas 15, 16, 18 and 20 carried twin cameras mount...   Sep 28 2006, 12:15 PM
- - DonPMitchell   I was told by Arnold Selivanov that Luna-16 return...   Sep 28 2006, 02:35 PM
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