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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Lunar Exploration _ Lunokhod 2 found! .... and guess who found it?

Posted by: maycm Mar 17 2010, 12:33 PM

UMSF's very own Phil Stooke hits the headlines. I'm going to suggest he's either too modest to post this himself, or I simply missed it elsewhere on the forum.

Congrats!

http://www.universetoday.com/2010/03/16/you-too-can-find-missing-russian-spacecraft/

EDIT - Found it in a different thread - congrats all the same.

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=6192&view=findpost&p=157143

Posted by: centsworth_II Mar 17 2010, 01:23 PM

We read it http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=6513&view=findpost&p=157108 first.

Posted by: tedstryk Mar 17 2010, 02:17 PM

Congrats to Phil!

Posted by: algorimancer Mar 17 2010, 02:48 PM

The Register's article is occasionally amusing and surprisingly thorough; I really liked this line:

"NASA released a fresh batch of LRO imagery this week, and Ontario based moon-map boffin Phil Stooke was on it like a rat up a drainpipe looking for the lost Lunokhod."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/17/lunokhod_2_located/

Posted by: elakdawalla Mar 17 2010, 04:03 PM

I got a good laugh out of that one.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Mar 17 2010, 04:49 PM

Rat up a drainpipe - good one! Very Barry McKenzie!

OK people, much though it pains me to say this, I have to set the record straight. I have just had an email from Sasha Basilevsky... his colleague Sergei Gerasimov has a correction to this story. I attach an image annotated by Sasha but based on Sergei's work.

The dark spot I noted is adjacent to the little crater where the soil-on-the-radiator accident happened. It must be a 'donut' caused by a turn in place after escaping from the crater. I was trying to figure out why those tracks south of the rover looked double - Sergei's image shows that Lunokhod 2 drove south again over its old tracks, then turned east and north - I missed those fainter tracks. And at the top of them is a very bright spot which is in fact Lunokhod 2.

So I was wrong. As so often in the past! Sorry about that.

Phil

Posted by: ElkGroveDan Mar 17 2010, 05:17 PM

One more slip-up like that Phil and you'll have to turn in your "boffin" credentials.

Posted by: Ian R Mar 17 2010, 06:38 PM

Phil, you've even made the headlines on FARK!

http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=5117400

"Hello, this is Phil. We found your lost vehicle. You had crashed it in a different place than you thought. But it's still on the Moon..."

Posted by: JayB Mar 17 2010, 06:39 PM

QUOTE (ElkGroveDan @ Mar 17 2010, 11:17 AM)

One more slip-up like that Phil and you'll have to turn in your "boffin" credentials.

Wrong or not you made cbc.ca too

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/03/17/tech-moon-rover-picture.html

Posted by: robspace54 Mar 17 2010, 06:41 PM

Well the Hollywood types claim that the worst publicity is NO publicity. So L2 is north and east and the blotchy pixels are the "dirt in the cover" crater?

I call it two mysteries solved, Phil, and bravo to you for digging in there and bravo to Sasha Basilevsky and Sergei Gerasimenko for putting the matter to rest.

Rob

Posted by: PDP8E Mar 17 2010, 06:59 PM

Hey Phil,

Alot of LRO images were released this week and I think I can show you where to find the Russian landers and a rover...!

...oh wait...

...never mind....

<congrats!, Selene continues to smile on you! >

pdp8e

Posted by: ustrax Mar 17 2010, 07:59 PM

Phil...you fluffy canadian astronomer...come here and let me hug you!

Posted by: nprev Mar 17 2010, 08:18 PM

Phil, details aside, you rock; incredible work!!!

(And yes, I do say that to all the cartographers I know!)

Posted by: JohnVV Mar 18 2010, 04:12 AM

i just read this over at /.
and was about to post

QUOTE

A professor of geography, Phil Stooke, solved the 37-year-old space mystery of the disappearance of the Lunokhod 2 using images released by NASA.

well good for you and congrats.

Posted by: Juramike Mar 18 2010, 01:24 PM

Congrats Phil! Awesome find!

Posted by: kenny Jul 11 2013, 01:26 PM

LRO measurements now suggest Lunokhod 2 actually travelled 26 miles (42 kilometers), rather than the 23 miles (37 kilometers). This revision is due to understanding better the occasional back-track which the rover did.

http://www.space.com/21923-soviet-moon-rover-driving-record.html