Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration

that there was a very weak permanent magnetic field around the moon, its measurements
being broadly in line with those of Apollo. The temperature of the lunar night
was measured at — 183°C. Back in Moscow, mission scientists made a geological map
of Le Monnier Bay, complete with slices of the surface, bedrock and underlying strata.
MOON ORBITERS
The Ye-8 series included two orbiters, Ye-8LS, both being launched successfully. They
flew the last of the trio of rovers of orbiters and rovers, although it had originally been
intended they go first. Their role was to:
• Take photographs of points of interest so as to identify landing sites for later
sample return, rover and manned missions.
• Study mascons, magnetic fields, the composition of lunar rocks, meteorites and
cislunar space.
New cameras were developed for the series by Arnold Selivanov. Essentially, he
adapted the optical-mechanical camera of Luna 9 and 13 as an orbital panoramic
camera in such a way as to make 180° long panoramic sweeps extending to the edge of
the moon. The images would be developed on board, scanned at 4 lines/sec and
relayed back to Earth. These are called optical-mechanical linear cameras and can be
used from moving spacecraft.
Warning of a new moon probe first appeared in January 1971 when predictions of
'low-flying artificial satellites' were made that would fly 'fairly soon'. Sure enough,
Luna 19 was launched on 28th September 1971 and entered circular lunar orbit of
140 km at 40°, 2hr 01 min, on 3rd October. Two sets of details were published for the
Ye-8LS