Photos sent by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to Earth have helped scientists discover the location of a Soviet self-propelled Lunar Explorer named 'Lunakhod-2' , missing 37 years ago.
Lunakhod-2
Astronomer Phil Stooke was the first to find the location of 'Lunakhod-2' of the 100,000 photos sent by the LRO. The photos showed 'Lunakhod-2' being 'resting' in a dark, dark crater.
On January 15, 1973, the Soviet remote-controlled self-propelled explorer vehicle 'Lunakhod-2' was launched to the Moon. After less than 5 months of work (June 4, 1973), it traveled 35 km on Ms. Hang's surface, sending a huge amount of data to Earth.
LRO look from Moon orbit
In total, there were 86 Moon panoramas and 80,000 clips and other images transmitted to Earth. These figures help Soviet scientists have a basis to study the properties of the Moon's surface, solar radiation and laser distance measurement.
So far, 35 km is still a record distance that a robot can go beyond Earth. Even NASA's most advanced self-propelled explorers have yet to break this record of 'Lunakhod-2'.
On June 4, 1973, 'Lunakhod-2 stopped working due to being stuck at a small crater. The dust on the Moon made 'Lunakhod-2' solar batteries and radiators unable to continue working. After that, the Soviet Union made three searches and rescued 'Lunakhod-2' but all failed.
