![]() |
Science Fiction
Dictionary
|
![]() |
Used Spacecraft Lot Needed On Moon
|
Mission | Object Description | Condition | Year |
Luna 2 | Small spherical craft with sensors | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1959 |
Ranger 4 | 5' high sensor platform w/failed solar panels | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1962 |
Rangers 6-9 | #6 arrived but failed; others deployed sending photos | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1964-5 |
Luna 5,7,8 | Sensor platforms with retro-rockets attempt soft landings | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1965 |
Luna 9 | Spherical sensor platform with cameras makes successful soft-landing, sends back photos | Excellent (dead battery) | 1966 |
Surveyor 1-7 | Sensor platform w/solar panels, soil analysis (some vandalism on #3 by Pete Conrad - camera missing) |
Excellent (#3 checked by Apollo crew 1969) | 1966-68 |
Luna 10-12 | Satellites with MP3 capability (transmitted "Internationale") orbited moon | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1966-68 |
Luna 13 | Achieved soft-landing; excellent cameras, detailed soil analysis | Excellent (battery dead) | 1966 |
Lunar Orbiter 1-5 | Satellites w/solar panels and dish antennae, excellent cameras and 70 mm film processing | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1966-67 |
Explorer 35 | Satellite with sensors; switched off 1972 | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1967 |
Apollo 10-17 | Lunar lander descent stages; some missions left behind retroflectors for lunar ranging. [except for #13, which never got there, and #10, which crashed] |
Excellent | 1969-72 |
Apollo 10-17 | Lunar lander ascent stages, which fell back onto the moon. [except for #13, which never got there.] |
Poor | 1969-72 |
Apollo 15-17 | Lunar Roving Vehicles (style: dune buggy) in good shape, low mileage | Good | 1971-72 |
Luna 15 | Platform-style unmanned lander intended to bring back samples | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1969 |
Lunokhod 1 | Robotic lunar rover with cameras teleoperated from Earth; low mileage | Good | 1970 |
Lunokhod 2 | Robotic lunar rover with upgrades also equipped with laser-ranging reflector | Good | 1973 |
Luna 23,24 | Platform-style craft left descent stages | Good | 1974 |
Hiten/ Hagoromo | Satellite lunar probes | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1990 |
Lunar Prospector | Sensor-laden craft intended to locate lunar water | Poor (Crash-landed) | 1998 |
Smart-1 | Satellite with unique Hall effect ion-thruster | Poor (Crash-landed) | 2006 |
Science fiction writers have already explored the idea of a used spacecraft lot on the Moon. In his 1941 novel Methuselah's Children, Robert Heinlein describes it this way:
...Despite efforts to make the Moon colony ecologically self-sufficient, Luna City still imported vastly more tonnage than she exported. On Earth this would have resulted in "empties coming back"; in space transport it was sometimes cheaper to let empties accumulate, especially on Luna where an empty freighter was worth more as metal than it had cost originally as a ship back Earthside.They suited up and left the dome by North Tunnel, then strolled along the grounded ships in the long, easy strides of low gravity...
(Read more about Lunar Used Spacecraft Lot)
If you are interested in space junk, you will want to collect these stories:
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/9/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 24 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...' - Murray Leinster, 1953.
SpaceX's Starman Tesla Roadster In Space
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.' - Theodore Sturgeon, 1941.
Warp Drive Tech Back On The Menu
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.' - RM Williams, 1940.
JAXA Int Ball 2 Coming Right Along As Star Wars Remote
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.' George Lucas, 1976.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Robot Hand Creeps Along, Separate From It's Owner
'The crawling... object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...'
Korean Exoskeleton Suit F1 Helps You Put It On
'Better late than never.'
Have AI Researchers Given Up On 'Bio-Babies'?
'You couldn't have the capstone without the pyramid to hold it up.'
Bunker Busters and Bore-Pellets
'The first revelation of the new Soviet bore-pellets.'
'Spikeless' Brand Swizzle Stick Detects Spiked Drinks
'the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers...'
Heart Patches Grown In The Lab Repair Hearts
I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
Humanoid Robots Spotted In Homes Performing Household Chores
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
Musk Proposes Sites For Martian Cities
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
Bambot Open Source Cheap Delivery Robot
'Not since the time he rewired the delivery robot...'
Robot Collective Acts Like A Smart Material
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
Vipera Electric Skis From Frigid Dynamics
'JOAN strapped on her power-skis...'
Pixel Watch 'Loss of Pulse Detection' And Philip K. Dick
'He carried on his person a triggering mechanism sensitive to his heartbeat.'
Nuclear Plant Restarted To Power AI To Feed Us Dreams
'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
SpaceX's Starman Tesla Roadster In Space
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
Pivotal Blackfly Electric Aircraft Lifts And Hovers
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
![]() |
Home | Glossary
| Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact
Us | FAQ | Advertise | ![]() Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™ Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved. |
![]() |