Old Moon Rover Beams Surprising Laser Flashes to Earth

[n2doc]

June 3, 2010: A Soviet robot lost on the dusty plains of the Moon for the past 40 years has been found again, and it is returning surprisingly strong laser pulses to Earth.

"We shined a laser on Lunokhod 1's position, and we were stunned by the power of the reflection," says Tom Murphy of UC San Diego, who leads the research team that's putting the old robot back to work. "Lunokhod 1 is talking to us loudly and clearly."

Almost forgotten in the lore of the Apollo-era space race, Lunokhod 1 was one of the greatest successes of the old Soviet lunar exploration program. In 1970, Time magazine described the robot's historic landing:

"Three hours after reaching the Moon aboard the latest unmanned Russian Moon probe, Luna 17, Lunokhod I (literally "moonwalker") lumbered down one of two ramps extended by the mother ship and moved forward … thus taking the first giant step for robotkind on another celestial body."

more

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/03jun_oldrover/

[MineralMan]

1. Cool! Since nobody's going to the moon, it's a good thing the old

hardware is still alive.

[1620rock]

2. What a disappointmemt...that Obama has cancelled our return to the moon.

41 years later and we still have no plans to return...I fear I have not the years left to witness our retuen.

[Fumesucker]

3. It looks like a Steampunk version of the Mars rovers..

Hell, forty years ago, it practically *is* a Steampunk rover. :)

[petronius]

4. It's cool that they found it, but the article makes it sound like it's doing more than

just reflecting. It's not functioning in any way, except by being a lot shinier than anyone hoped.

Neat looking machine, though - I love the lens caps dangling in the front...