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Lunar rover

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(Redirected from Lunar rovers)
For the Apollo rovers, see Lunar Roving Vehicle.
Landing sites of sample return and rover missions superimposed on lithology (Clementine UVVIS). Red: old lunar highlands. Blue: young lunar highlands. Yellow: lunar maria (high titanium). Cyan: lunar maria (low titanium)

A lunar rover or Moon rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of the Moon. The Apollo program's Lunar Roving Vehicle was driven on the Moon by members of three American crews, Apollo 15, 16, and 17. Other rovers have been partially or fully autonomous robots, such as the Soviet Union's Lunokhods, Chinese Yutus, Indian Pragyan, and Japan's LEVs. Five countries have had operating rovers on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India, and Japan.

Variations in design

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Lunar rover designs have varied in several ways.

Size and speed

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Lunokhod rovers were 170 centimetres (67 in) in length.[1] The LRVs were 10 ft (3.0 m) long with a 7.5 ft (2.3 m) wheelbase, and achieved a top speed of 11.2 miles per hour (18.0 km/h) during Apollo 17.

Power

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The Lunokhod rovers, and others, used photovoltaic solar power. The LRV rovers were battery powered. Lunokhod and the Chinese Yutu rovers were furthermore equipped with a radioisotope heater unit to keep instruments warm. These, however, delivered only heat, not electric power. While unlike on other celestial bodies, such as Earth or Mars, there is no atmosphere to interfere with solar power, the extreme length of the day/night cycle complicates the use of solar power as energy storage or hibernation are necessary for any missions exceeding two weeks in length. There are places where solar power is almost always available (especially near the lunar south pole) on the Moon, but to date no mission has successfully landed a rover at one of those places. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators can operate independent of the day/night cycle and have been used on missions to other celestial bodies in the past.

Propulsion

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The LRV was a four-wheel design. The Lunokhod rovers used eight.

Thermal control

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To remain warm during periods of lunar night the Lunokhod rovers used heat from radioactive polonium-210.[2]

Past missions

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Lunokhod 1

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Lunokhod-1 model, Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics
Main article: Lunokhod 1

In November 1970, as part of the Lunokhod program, the Soviet Union sent the Lunokhod 1 robotic rover to the lunar surface. It remained operational until October 1971.[3] The rover was soft-landed in Mare Imbrium by the Luna 17 lander. Lunokhod 1 was the first rover to land on another celestial body.

Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle

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The Apollo 15 Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon in 1971
Main article: Lunar Roving Vehicle

The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was a battery-powered four-wheeled vehicle design. The LRV could carry one or two astronauts, their equipment, and lunar samples. During 1971 and 1972, LRVs were used on the Moon for each of the final three missions of the American Apollo program, Apollo 15, 16, and 17.

Lunokhod 2

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Main article: Lunokhod 2

Lunokhod 2 was the second of two monocrystalline-panel-powered uncrewed lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of the Lunokhod program. The Luna 21 spacecraft landed on the Moon and deployed the second Soviet lunar rover Lunokhod 2 in January 1973. The objectives of the mission were to collect images of the lunar surface, examine ambient light levels to determine the feasibility of astronomical observations from the Moon, perform laser ranging experiments, observe solar X-rays, measure local magnetic fields, and study the soil mechanics of the lunar surface material. Lunokhod 2 was intended to be followed by Lunokhod 3 (No.205) in 1977 but the mission was cancelled.

Yutu

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Yutu rover on lunar surface in 2013
Main article: Yutu (rover)

Yutu is a Chinese lunar rover that launched on 1 December 2013 and landed on 14 December 2013 as part of the Chang'e 3 mission. It is China's first lunar rover, part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program undertaken by China National Space Administration (CNSA).[4] The lunar rover is called Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, a name selected in an online poll.[5]

The rover encountered operational difficulties after the first 14-day lunar night, and was unable to move after the end of the second lunar night, finally on August 3, 2016, it officially stopped sending data and doing its operations.

Yutu-2

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This section is an excerpt from Yutu-2.[edit]
Yutu-2 rover on the Moon as seen by the Chang'e 4 lander

Yutu-2 (Chinese: 玉兔二号; pinyin: Yùtù Èrhào) is the robotic lunar rover component of CNSA's Chang'e 4 mission to the Moon, launched on 7 December 2018 18:23 UTC, it entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018 before making the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January 2019. Yutu-2 is currently operational as the longest-lived lunar rover[6] after it eclipsed (on 20 November 2019) the previous lunar longevity record of 321 Earth days held by Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 rover.

Yutu-2 is the first lunar rover ever to have traversed the far side of the Moon. By January 2022, it had travelled a distance of more than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) along the Moon's surface.[7][8] Data from its ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been used by scientists to put together imagery of multiple layers deep beneath the surface of the far side of the Moon.[9] As of September 2024, the Yutu-2 was still active.[10]

Pragyan (Chandrayaan-3 rover)

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Main article: Pragyan (Chandrayaan-3)
Pragyan on the Moon

Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July 2023 by the Indian Space Research Organisation in India's second attempt to soft land a rover and a lander on the Moon. Pragyan became the first rover to operate near the Moon's south pole when it successfully landed on 23 August 2023, after the lander separation from propulsion module had taken place on 17 August.[11] The Pragyan rover was deployed the same day as landing and has travelled 0.1 km (0.062 mi) since then. On September 2, the rover finished all assignments and entered into a sleep mode in preparation for wake up on September 22, but was unable to do so.

SLIM's LEV Rovers

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Main article: Smart Lander for Investigating Moon

The SLIM lander has two rovers onboard, Lunar Excursion Vehicle 1 (LEV-1) (hopper) and Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2), also known as Sora-Q, a tiny rover developed by JAXA in joint cooperation with Tomy, Sony Group, and Doshisha University.[12] The first rover has direct-to-Earth communication. The second rover is designed to change its shape to traverse around the landing site over a short lifespan of two hours. SLIM was launched on September 6, 2023, and reached lunar orbit on 25 December 2023. The two rovers were successfully deployed and landed separately from SLIM shortly before its own landing on 19 January 2024.[13] LEV-1 conducted seven hops over 107 minutes on lunar surface and LEV-2 imaged SLIM on lunar surface.[14]

Jinchan

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Main article: Chang'e 6

Chinese Chang'e 6 sample return mission carries a mini rover called Jinchan to conduct infrared spectroscopy of lunar surface and imaged Chang'e 6 lander on lunar surface.[15]

Failed missions

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Pragyan (Chandrayaan-2 rover)

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Main articles: Chandrayaan-2 and Pragyan (Chandrayaan-2)

Chandrayaan-2 was the second lunar mission by India, consisting of a lunar orbiter, a lander named Vikram, and a rover named Pragyan. The rover weighing 27 kg,[16] had six wheels and was to be operated on solar power.[17] Launched on 22 July 2019, the mission entered lunar orbit on August 20. Pragyan was destroyed along with its lander, Vikram, when it crash-landed on the Moon on 6 September 2019 and never got the chance to deploy.[18][19]

Rashid

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Main article: Emirates Lunar Mission

Rashid was a lunar rover built by MBRSC to be launched onboard Ispace's lander called Hakuto-R. The rover was launched in November 2022, but was destroyed as the lander crash landed in April 2023.[20] It was equipped with two high-resolution cameras, a microscopic camera to capture small details, and a thermal imaging camera. The rover carried a Langmuir probe, designed to study the Moon's plasma and will attempt to explain why Moon dust is so sticky.[21] The rover was supposed to study the lunar surface, mobility on the Moon’s surface and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles.[22]

SORA-Q

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Sora-Q was developed by Takara Tomy, JAXA and Doshisha University to be launched onboard Ispace's lander called Hakuto-R Mission 1. It was launched in 2022, but was destroyed as the lander crash landed in April 2023.[23][24][25] A second rover was successfully deployed from the SLIM lander in January 2024.

Peregrine Mission One

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Main article: Peregrine Mission One

Peregrine lander launched on 8 January 2024 to the Moon. It took with it 5 Colmena rovers and a Iris rover.[26] The mission of the Peregrine lander was forced to be cancelled after an excessive propellant leak.[27]

Active missions

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Yutu-2

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Yutu-2 on the Moon

The Chang'e 4 Chinese mission launched on 7 December 2018, and landed and deployed the Yutu-2 rover on the far side of the Moon on 3 January 2019. It is the first rover to operate on the Moon's far side.

In December 2019, Yutu 2 broke the lunar longevity record, previously held by the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 1 rover,[28] which operated on the lunar surface for eleven lunar days (321 Earth days) and traversed a total distance of 10.54 km (6.55 mi).[29]

In February 2020, Chinese astronomers reported, for the first time, a high-resolution image of a lunar ejecta sequence, and, as well, direct analysis of its internal architecture. These were based on observations made by the Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) on board the Yutu-2 rover while studying the far side of the Moon.[30][31]

Data from its two-channel ground penetrating radar (GPR) has been used by scientists to put together an image of multiple layers beneath the surface of the far side of the Moon up to a depth of 300 meters.[32]

Yutu-2 is currently operational and is the longest-lived lunar rover to date.[33]

Planned missions

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Main article: List of rovers on extraterrestrial bodies § Moon

Proposed missions

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Main article: List of rovers on extraterrestrial bodies § Proposed_rovers

ATHLETE

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ATHLETE rover concepts with crew habitats models, 2008.
Main article: ATHLETE

NASA's plans for future Moon missions call for rovers that have a far longer range than the Apollo rovers.[34] The All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) is a six-legged robotic lunar rover test-bed under development by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). ATHLETE is a testbed for systems and is designed for use on the Moon.[35] The system is in development along with NASA's Johnson and Ames Centers, Stanford University and Boeing.[36] ATHLETE is designed, for maximum efficiency, to be able to both roll and walk over a wide range of terrains.[35]

Lunar Polar Exploration Mission rover

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Main article: Lunar Polar Exploration Mission

The Lunar Polar Exploration Mission is a robotic lunar mission concept by Indian Space Research Organisation and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that would send a lunar rover and lander to explore the south pole region of the Moon in 2028. The Japanese agency is likely to provide the under-development H3 launch vehicle and the rover, while the Indian agency would be responsible for the lander.

Cancelled

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Lunokhod 3

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Main article: Lunokhod programme

Lunokhod 3 was built for a Moon landing in 1977 as Luna 25 but never flew to the Moon due to lack of launchers and funding. It remains at the NPO Lavochkin museum.

Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle 4, 5 and 6

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They would have been for Apollo 18, 19 and 20. Only the rover for Apollo 18 (LRV-4) was built. After the cancellation of that mission, it was used as spare parts for the previous rovers.[37][38]

Resource Prospector

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Main article: Resource Prospector (rover)
Engineering prototype of the Resource Prospector lunar rover undergoing tests.

Resource Prospector is a cancelled mission concept by NASA of a rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the Moon. The rover was to attempt to detect and map the location of volatiles such as hydrogen, oxygen and lunar water which could foster more affordable and sustainable human exploration to the Moon, Mars, and other Solar System bodies. The mission concept was still in its pre-formulation stage when it was scrapped in April 2018. The Resource Prospector mission was proposed to be launched in 2022. Its science instruments will be flown on several commercial lander missions contracted with NASA's new Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

VIPER

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This section is an excerpt from VIPER (rover).[edit]
Artist's impression of VIPER operating in darkness.

VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) is a lunar rover which was developed at the NASA Ames Research Center. Before the project was cancelled in 2024 the rover would have been tasked with prospecting for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas of lunar south pole region, especially by mapping the distribution and concentration of water ice. The mission built on a previous NASA rover concept, the Resource Prospector, which had been cancelled in 2018.[39]

VIPER was to be carried aboard Astrobotic's Griffin lander as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.[40]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Luna 21/Lunokhod 2". NASA.
  2. ^ Karacalıoğlu, Göktuğ. "Energy Resources for Space Missions". Space Safety Magazine.
  3. ^ Howell, Elizabeth (19 December 2016). "Lunokhod 1: 1st Successful Lunar Rover". space.com.
  4. ^ "Chang'e 3: The Chinese Rover Mission". AmericaSpace. May 4, 2013.
  5. ^ Ramzy, Austin (26 November 2013). "China to Send 'Jade Rabbit' Rover to the Moon". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  6. ^ David, Leonard (18 December 2019). "China's Farside Moon Rover Breaks Lunar Longevity Record". Space.com.
  7. ^ "Moon 'mystery hut' is just a rabbit-shaped rock, Chinese rover finds". Space.com. 11 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  8. ^ "China's lunar rover Yutu 2 is on a mission to investigate mystery object on far side of the moon". 2021-12-05.
  9. ^ "China's Yutu 2 rover reveals deep layers below far side of the moon". Space.com. 2023-08-24.
  10. ^ Jones, Andrew (2024-09-19). "China's Yutu 2 rover still going strong after nearly 6 years on the far side of the moon". Space.com. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
  11. ^ "Chandrayaan-3 lander separates from propulsion module: What happens next?". The Indian Express. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  12. ^ Hirano, Daichi (7 October 2022). "Palm-Sized Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2)". JAXA. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  13. ^ Chang, Kenneth (2024-01-19). "Japan Becomes Fifth Country to Land on the Moon". The New York Times.
  14. ^ 小型月着陸実証機（SLIM）および小型プローブ（LEV）の月面着陸の結果・成果等 の記者会見, 24 January 2024, retrieved 2024-01-25
  15. ^ Jones, Andrew (6 May 2024). "China's Chang'e-6 is carrying a surprise rover to the moon". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  16. ^ "ISRO to send first Indian into Space by 2022 as announced by PM, says Dr Jitendra Singh". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  17. ^ Nair, Avinash (31 May 2015). "ISRO to deliver "eyes and ears" of Chandrayaan-2 by 2015-end". The Indian Express. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  18. ^ "Chandrayaan - 2 Latest Update". isro.gov.in. September 7, 2019. Archived from the original on September 8, 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  19. ^ Vikram lander located on lunar surface, wasn't a soft landing: Isro. Times of India. 8 September 2019.
  20. ^ Nasir, Sarwat (19 September 2022). "Launch window for UAE Moon mission revealed". The National. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  21. ^ "UAE hopes this tiny lunar rover will discover unexplored parts of the moon". CNN. 24 November 2020.
  22. ^ "UAE sets new ambitious timeline for launch of moon rover". ABC News. 14 April 2021.
  23. ^ Elizabeth Howell (2021-05-27). "Japan will send a transforming robot ball to the moon to test lunar rover tech". Space.com. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  24. ^ "Data Acquisition on the Lunar Surface with a Transformable Lunar Robot, Assisting Development of the Crewed Pressurized Rover". JAXA (Press release). 27 May 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  25. ^ "This is the Lunar Excursion Vehicle (LEV-2) which will ride to the Moon on the JAXA SLIM spacecraft in the near future". Twitter. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  26. ^ Belam, Martin (2024-01-08). "Nasa Peregrine 1 launch: Vulcan Centaur rocket carrying Nasa moon lander lifts off in Florida – live updates". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  27. ^ Fisher, Jackie Wattles, Kristin (2024-01-08). "Peregrine mission abandons Moon landing attempt after suffering 'critical' fuel loss". CNN. Retrieved 2024-01-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  28. ^ China's Farside Moon Rover Breaks Lunar Longevity Record. Leonard David, Space.com. 12 December 2019.
  29. ^ Howell, Elizabeth (December 19, 2016). "Lunokhod 1: 1st Successful Lunar Rover", Space.com. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  30. ^ Chang, Kenneth (26 February 2020). "China's Rover Finds Layers of Surprise Under Moon's Far Side - The Chang'e-4 mission, the first to land on the lunar far side, is demonstrating the promise and peril of using ground-penetrating radar in planetary science". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  31. ^ Li, Chunlai; et al. (26 February 2020). "The Moon's farside shallow subsurface structure unveiled by Chang'E-4 Lunar Penetrating Radar". Science Advances. 6 (9): eaay6898. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.6898L. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aay6898. PMC 7043921. PMID 32133404.
  32. ^ "China's Yutu 2 rover reveals deep layers below far side of the moon". Space.com. 2023-08-24.
  33. ^ "NASA announces end of history-making Mars helicopter mission". 26 January 2024.
  34. ^ "NASA - Lunar Electric Rover". www.nasa.gov.
  35. ^ a b "The ATHLETE Rover". JPL. 2010-02-25. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-01-28.
  36. ^ "The ATHLETE Rover". NASA. 2010-02-25.
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  38. ^ "A Field Guide to American Spacecraft | LRV #4". 2012-05-06. Archived from the original on 2012-05-06. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
  39. ^ Bartels, Meghan (16 October 2019). "Moon VIPER: NASA Wants to Send a Water-Sniffing Rover to the Lunar South Pole in 2022". Space.com. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  40. ^ "NASA Selects Astrobotic to Fly Water-Hunting Rover to the Moon". NASA. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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