An interesting bit of space history - 50 years ago today the Soviet space probe Lunar 9 was heading towards becoming the first object to soft-land on another world. It had been launched 2.5 days earlier from the Baikonur cosmodrome, had successfully gone through the various stage separations and been put into a spin of about 1 revolution per minute. A mid-course correction at a day and a half out from launch now saw it heading for just the right spot on the moon in the Oceanus Proccellarum.
Some 5,000 miles from touchdown the spin was stopped and the vehicle was turned so it could use its retro-rocket. This was switched on for 48 seconds at a distance of about 50 miles from the surface, reducing the speed from 1 mile a second to a more reasonable approach speed, whilst side modules were jettisoned and a bag which would protect the vital capsule was inflated. This bag looks rather like a badly-sewn rugby ball and I believe balsa wood was also used as protective material - I like the idea of balsa wood making it all the way to the moon!
At 800 feet above the surface (detected by radar altimeter, as was were the previous actions) the main retro-rocket was switched off and four outrigger engines came on to guide the probe down until a 16 foot rod under the probe touched the lunar surface. At this moment all engines were shut down and the ball perched atop the structure was shot off (presumably by pyrotechnics?) leaving the main structure to hit the surface and topple over.
The ball itself must have bounced a few times before finally coming to rest. The time was 18:45 and 30 seconds (Universal Time), the 3rd of February 1966.
There it rested for some minutes, before the outer protection was blasted off by pyrotechnics to land a safe distance away. A hypothetical observer would then have seen the bud-shaped capsule open up in a four-petalled manner and 4 antenna quickly unfold themselves. On top of the lander was a periscopic-looking mirrored turret which allowed the taking of panoramic photos. Apart from this camera, the only other science instrument the lander carried was a radiation sensor, which told us that the daily dose was about 30 millirads.
Over the next 3 days Luna 9 radioed back at least 4 panoramas (accounts differ, as do some other details of the mission) of the lunar surface - the first close-up views we had of another world. Britain's Daily Express newspaper had rather a scoop when the Jodrell Bank radio telescope, which had been following the progress of the spacecraft, realised that it was now sending back images of the moon in the standard facsimile format of the time, thus a quickly obtained Daily Express machine gave the world the first pictures of the lunar surface, much to the annoyance of the Soviets!
Interestingly, the craft appeared to have slipped slightly between the first and second panoramas, possibly the ground settling under it or possibly sliding slightly into the 80 foot crater it was on the edge of. However, this slight shift in viewpoints allowed stereoscopic images to be made - a lucky event.
I don't know if anyone followed the more recent landing of the Curiosity Mars rover - the so-called 'Seven minutes of terror', nowadays we are lucky enough to be instant observers of such events. Watching that unfold was one of the most exciting things I've witnessed. I would suggest that the technological achievement of Luna 9 those sixty years ago was just as amazing and exciting.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this summary of the mission. By the way, there's probably enough reference material on the internet to produce a nice model of the probe. Ninfinger did his own scratchbuilt lander. If I ever finish my Voyager, Venera and New Horizons, etc, etc I shall have a go! That painting of the landing site is a good inspiration - diorama anyone?
Happy modelling
Julian
PS Thanks to Swampfox for pointing out it's actually 50 years, not 60 years ago!
Some 5,000 miles from touchdown the spin was stopped and the vehicle was turned so it could use its retro-rocket. This was switched on for 48 seconds at a distance of about 50 miles from the surface, reducing the speed from 1 mile a second to a more reasonable approach speed, whilst side modules were jettisoned and a bag which would protect the vital capsule was inflated. This bag looks rather like a badly-sewn rugby ball and I believe balsa wood was also used as protective material - I like the idea of balsa wood making it all the way to the moon!
At 800 feet above the surface (detected by radar altimeter, as was were the previous actions) the main retro-rocket was switched off and four outrigger engines came on to guide the probe down until a 16 foot rod under the probe touched the lunar surface. At this moment all engines were shut down and the ball perched atop the structure was shot off (presumably by pyrotechnics?) leaving the main structure to hit the surface and topple over.
The ball itself must have bounced a few times before finally coming to rest. The time was 18:45 and 30 seconds (Universal Time), the 3rd of February 1966.
There it rested for some minutes, before the outer protection was blasted off by pyrotechnics to land a safe distance away. A hypothetical observer would then have seen the bud-shaped capsule open up in a four-petalled manner and 4 antenna quickly unfold themselves. On top of the lander was a periscopic-looking mirrored turret which allowed the taking of panoramic photos. Apart from this camera, the only other science instrument the lander carried was a radiation sensor, which told us that the daily dose was about 30 millirads.
Over the next 3 days Luna 9 radioed back at least 4 panoramas (accounts differ, as do some other details of the mission) of the lunar surface - the first close-up views we had of another world. Britain's Daily Express newspaper had rather a scoop when the Jodrell Bank radio telescope, which had been following the progress of the spacecraft, realised that it was now sending back images of the moon in the standard facsimile format of the time, thus a quickly obtained Daily Express machine gave the world the first pictures of the lunar surface, much to the annoyance of the Soviets!
Interestingly, the craft appeared to have slipped slightly between the first and second panoramas, possibly the ground settling under it or possibly sliding slightly into the 80 foot crater it was on the edge of. However, this slight shift in viewpoints allowed stereoscopic images to be made - a lucky event.
I don't know if anyone followed the more recent landing of the Curiosity Mars rover - the so-called 'Seven minutes of terror', nowadays we are lucky enough to be instant observers of such events. Watching that unfold was one of the most exciting things I've witnessed. I would suggest that the technological achievement of Luna 9 those sixty years ago was just as amazing and exciting.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this summary of the mission. By the way, there's probably enough reference material on the internet to produce a nice model of the probe. Ninfinger did his own scratchbuilt lander. If I ever finish my Voyager, Venera and New Horizons, etc, etc I shall have a go! That painting of the landing site is a good inspiration - diorama anyone?
Happy modelling
Julian
PS Thanks to Swampfox for pointing out it's actually 50 years, not 60 years ago!
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