Two years after Lunokhod 1, the Soviet Union sent an improved rover to the Moon. Lunokhod 2 landed with the Luna 21 lander in the Le Monnier crater on 15 January 1973.
Like its predecessor, it was built by the Lavochkin design bureau. It had the same “bathtub on wheels” shape: 840 kg, about 1.7 m long, on eight wheels, each with its own suspension, motor and brake. Energy came from a solar panel inside a hinged lid, which opened during the lunar day to charge the batteries. Lunokhod 2 had improved cameras, including an extra navigation camera, and carried a magnetometer and a French laser reflector.
In about four months it drove 39 km over the lunar surface and sent back more than 80,000 TV pictures and 86 panoramas. Contact was lost on 11 May 1973. Its distance stood as the record for driving on another world until NASA’s solar-powered Opportunity rover passed it on Mars on 27 July 2014.
A curious footnote: in 1993 computer-game entrepreneur Richard Garriott bought Lunokhod 2 and its lander at a Sotheby’s auction for $68,500. He is probably the only private person who owns a vehicle on the Moon. This photo shows a full-size mockup on Earth.
Technical data
| Builder | Lavochkin design bureau (USSR) |
|---|---|
| Landing | 15 January 1973, Le Monnier crater (Luna 21) |
| Wheels | 8, each with its own suspension, motor and brake |
| Mass / size | 840 kg, ~1.7 × 1.6 × 1.35 m |
| Power | Solar panel inside the hinged lid charging batteries |
| Distance | 39 km (off-world record until July 2014) |
| Data | 80,000+ TV images, 86 panoramas |
| Owner | Richard Garriott (Sotheby’s auction, 1993, $68,500) |
Photo (full-size mockup): Hayk / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sources: Wikipedia: Lunokhod 2