While the men of NASA’s Apollo 14 and 15 missions were driving around the moon on buggies and getting in a quick round of moon golf, the scientists of the Soviet Union were skulking around on the surface of the Moon as well, exploring the nooks and crannies with a lunar explorer called the Lunokhod 1. When the unit went off line 11 months after its first deployment, Russian scientists gave the atomic/solar-powered hybrid moon car up as lost, since they weren’t exactly sure where Lunokhod 1 came to a stop after Luna 17 dropped it off. Now, in a scoop of Google Moon proportions, a team of NASA scientists have found Russia’s lost lunar exploration vehicle.
It’s all thanks to a new weapon in NASA’s space exploration module, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) satellite. This orbiting scanner flies only 30 miles above the crater-scarred surface of the Moon, scanning it with incredible precision. That’s how it was able to find not just the Lunokhod 1, but also the Lunokhod 2, a second Soviet lunar rover thought lost. If the British lose their monocles on their first trip into space, the LRO will find them, no problem.
Image: DVice
Tags: lunar rover, lost lunar rover found, Soviet lunar rover found, Lunokhod 1, space exploration, exploring the moon, the space race, Luna 17, Mare Imbrium, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) satellite