Cartography of the Soviet Lunokhods’ routes on the moon

Abstract

Soviet missions Luna-17 (1971) and Luna-21 (1973) deployed the roving robotic vehicles Lunokhod-1 and Lunokhod-2 on the lunar surface. The Lunokhods (Moonwalkers) were the first extraterrestrial rovers that were operated remotely from Earth. Using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) narrow-angle camera (NAC) (Robinson et al. 2010), the Lunokhods’ routes have been reconstructed (Karachevtseva et al. 2013; 2017). Following the rover tracks that are visible on high-resolution LROC NAC images, we identified the exact rover traverses and compared them with data from archive topographic maps created during Soviet lunar missions. Derived LRO data (DEMs and orthomosaics) allowed us to analyze the topography of the Moon area at the local level and to map the Lunokhods’ routes with more details.