Rover Spotted On The Moon
The Russian Lunar rover Lunokhod 2 was recently spotted on the Moon’s surface. As shown in the photo below, the black arrow indicates where the tracks begin, while the white one shows the resting place of the rover. The arrows were placed by Phil Stooke, geography professor at University of Western Ontario.
Richard Garriott, a successful video game developer and one of fewer than 10 private citizens to travel into space is the current owner of Lunokhod 2. He acquired it for over $68,500 when it was listed for sale in 1993 Sotheby’s auction. After seeing those findings, he mentioned plans to go see the rover from lunar orbit, or maybe even the surface of the Moon. If successful, he would be the first civilian space tourist to set foot on the Moon.
Lunokhod 2 was sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union in 1973 using the Luna 21 spacecraft. Contact was lost with the rover in the same year, after about four months of operation.
This is how Lunokhod 2 looks like.
Similarly, the Apollo 11 lander was spotted on the Moon’s surface by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), as seen on the photo below.
Images Credits: NASA.
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Paul Tomaszewski
Paul Tomaszewski is a science & tech writer as well as a programmer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of CosmoBC. He has a degree in computer science from John Abbott College, a bachelor's degree in technology from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and completed some business and economics classes at Concordia University in Montreal. While in college he was the vice-president of the Astronomy Club. In his spare time he is an amateur astronomer and enjoys reading or watching science-fiction. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.
3 Comments
Pltnav
A webcam on the moon would be boring since it doesn’t have an atmosphere. Now a webcam on Mars…that would be cool. What are they hiding that would stop them from doing it already? The technology has been there for a decade now.
While I believe that they were able to land lunar rovers on the moon, I just don’t believe that they actually were able to land men on the moon. There are just too many logistical problems. The radiation belt alone is simply too strong to allow for a human being to survive from that much exposure. Then there are multiple light sources, “too perfect” shots, and the fact that the radiation would have ruined the film from exposure. Again if we can get a rover to Mars then the moon would be a snap. Then later do a satellite flyby to prove that it’s there. But landing missions of humans there time and again? Too many things had to happen absolutely perfectly. The odds are ridiculous when you do the calculations…
M. C.
I dont know why they havent put a webcam up there yet. I would think maybe its due to battery life issues? Im sure we have the technology!
Daniel Amezcua
Now they just need to get a webcam on it and leave it there 😀
Seriously though, how lucky to be one of the lucky few to step foot on the moon!