Over 37 years ago, the Soviet lunar explorer Lunakhod 2 traveled more than 20 miles over the lunar surface. It was an early and very successful example of robotic space exploration. But with the technology of the time, nobody knew exactly where the explorer actually was on the moon – the best anyone could do was a rough guess.
Fast forward to now, with the American Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter (LRO) circling low over the moon's surface, mapping it in exquisite high resolution with imagery and radar. Using LRO's data, researchers have found Lunakhod 2, including the tracks it made as it roved around the lunar surface...
Thats cool.. but did they find the apollo mission buggy yet?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely they did! All of the Apollo landers were found, along with the left-over buggies and in a few cases, the scientific equipment. In addition some of the earlier Surveyors were found, and one very good candidate for a Ranger mission (these crashed straight into the moon, so basically they were looking for a small crater). The Lunakhod was a bit of a mystery, as the position the Soviets thought it was in turned out to be wrong (we knew this after Apollo 8, which searched for it from orbit)...
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