Lunokhod Robotic Rovers Home Page | Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) | Sojourner

The Soviet Union's (Russia's) space program successfully sent two robotic rover vehicles to Earth's moon in the early 1970's. The robots were called Lunokhod and were a part of Russia's Luna program for exploring the moon.

The Lunokhod rovers were about 4-1/2 feet tall by 5-1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide (135 x 170 x 160 cm). They had a mass of 840 kg, which means they would weigh about 1,850 pounds on Earth, but only about 310 pounds on the moon. Lunokhod had two speeds: 1 km/hr and 2 km/hr (both less than 2 miles per hour, which is a slow walking pace for a person). The rover had eight wheels and three TV cameras.

The rover had batteries which supplied it with power. Lunokhod had solar panels on the inside of a round, hinged lid on its top. The lid would be opened during daytime on the moon to charge the batteries. The rover also had a radioactive heat source inside it, which kept it warm at night on the moon.

A five-man crew of controllers on Earth sent driving commands to Lunokhod. The rover carried scientific instruments that measured properties of the soil on the moon; that measured levels of radiation, light, and ultraviolet light; and that measured magnetic fields.

The Lunokhod 1 rover was part of Russia's Luna 17 mission. It landed on the moon on November 17, 1970, about a year-and-a-half after Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon. The vehicle was supposed to last about three months, but actually operated for 11 months! During that time, it traveled about 6-1/2 miles (10.5 km), sent more than 20,000 TV pictures back to Earth, and did 500 tests of the lunar soil.

The Lunokhod 2 rover was part of Russia's Luna 21 mission. It landed on the moon on January 15, 1973. The vehicle roamed around the moon for about 4 months. It covered a lot of ground - almost 23 miles (37 km) - and took 80,000 TV pictures.

Three Lunokhod rovers were built. The first one was destroyed in February 1969 when the Proton rocket that was carrying it into space failed during launch.