Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration

stop to take panoramic pictures. For the drivers, these were good opportunities to
orientate the rover and plan the next stage of the journey.
'LUNOKHOD, NOT LUNOSTOP'
Scientists sat in an adjoining room watching the pictures and hearing the comments
of the drivers, but were not allowed into the control room. This was quite different
from American practice for, when American rovers explored Mars in 1997 (Sojourner)
and 2004 (Spirit and Opportunity), the scientists were an integral part of the team.
Eventually and Babakin's edict notwithstanding, the principal lunar geologist, Alexander
Basilevsky of the Vernadsky Institute for Geochemistry, could bear the separation
no longer, brought his chair into the control room and watched quietly from
close quarters. There was quite a contrast between the way the Russians approached
things on the moon and the way the Americans subsequently did on Mars. Whenever
Basilevsky wanted to examine a rock, the drivers wanted to avoid it, for fear of
collision or getting stuck - by contrast, the American Mars rovers spent extensive
periods getting up close and personal to individual interesting rocks. Georgi Babakin,
aware of thirst in Pravda for 'how many kilometres did we do today?' once told
Basilevsky gently that this was a Lunokhod, not a Lunostop.
As time went on, it became apparent that Lunokhod was not just a playful
bathtub on wheels but a sophisticated machine with advanced instrumentation.
The soil analyzer RIFMA bombarded the surface with X-rays and enabled ground
control to read back the chemical composition of the basalt-type soil. From time to
time, the PrOP mechanical rod jabbed into the soil to test its strength. When it did so,
it was able to measure resistance. Then, it was turned in the soil, this time to measure
turning resistance. Once done, it was retracted and the vehicle moved on. Lunokhod
did not only look moonwards: there were two telescopes on board - one to pick up
X-rays beyond the galaxy and another to receive cosmic radiation. On 19th Novem-
Lunokhod tracks from landing stage