Luna 16
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| Missing image Luna_sample_return_spacecraft.jpg Luna 16 | |
| Organization: | Soviet Union |
| Major Contractors: | GSMZ Lavochkin |
| Mission Type: | Planetary Science Lunar Sample Return |
| Satellite of: | Moon |
| Launch: | September 12, 1970 at 13:25:53 UTC |
| Launch Vehicle: | Proton 8K82K + Blok D |
| Mission Highlight: | 101-gram sample returned on September 24, 1970, 05:25 UTC 80 km SE of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan . |
| Mission Duration: | 12-days |
| Mass: | 5,727 kg |
| NSSDC ID: | 1969-058A |
| Webpage: | NASA NSSDC Master Catalog (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1969-058A) |
| Orbital elements | |
|---|---|
| Semimajor Axis: | 6,488.8 km |
| Eccentricity: | 0 |
| Inclination: | 70° |
| Orbital Period: | 119 minutes |
| Apogee: | 111 km |
| Perigee: | 111 km |
| Orbits: | ~36 |
| Lunar Landing: | September 20, 1970, 05:18 UTC |
| Landing coordinates: | 0°41' S, - 56°18' E. |
| Lunar liftoff: | September 21, 1970, 07:43 UTC |
| Instruments | |
| Stereo imaging system : | Lunar photography |
| Remote arm for sample collection : | collect lunar material |
| Radiation detector : | Lunar radiation environment |
Luna 16 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 16.
Luna 16 was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample to Earth and represented the first lunar sample return mission by the Soviet Union and the third overall, following the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions.
The spacecraft consisted of two attached stages, an ascent stage mounted on top of a descent stage. The descent stage was a cylindrical body with four protruding landing legs, fuel tanks, a landing radar, and a dual descent engine complex.
A main descent engine was used to slow the craft until it reached a cutoff point which was determined by the onboard computer based on altitude and velocity. After cutoff a bank of lower thrust jets was used for the final landing. The descent stage also acted as a launch pad for the ascent stage.
The ascent stage was a smaller cylinder with a rounded top. It carried a cylindrical hermetically sealed soil sample container inside a re-entry capsule.
The spacecraft descent stage was equipped with a television camera, radiation and temperature monitors, telecommunications equipment, and an extendable arm with a drilling rig for the collection of a lunar soil sample.
Mission profile
The Luna 16 automatic station was launched toward the Moon from a preliminary Earth orbit and after one mid-course correction on 13 September it entered a circular 111 km lunar orbit on September 17, 1970.
The lunar gravity was studied from this orbit, and then the spacecraft was fired into an elliptical orbit with a perilune of 15.1 km. The main braking engine was fired on 20 September, initiating the descent to the lunar surface. The main descent engine cut off at an altitude of 20 m and the landing jets cut off at 2 m height at a velocity less than 2.4 m/s, followed by vertical free-fall.
At 05:18 UT, the spacecraft softly landed on the lunar surface in Mare Fecunditatis (the Sea of Fertility) as planned, approximately 100 km west of Webb crater. This was the first landing made in the dark on the Moon, as the Sun had set about 60 hours earlier. According to the Bochum Radio Space Observatory in the Federal Republic of Germany, strong and good quality television pictures were returned by the spacecraft.
The drill was deployed and penetrated to a depth of 35 cm before encountering hard rock or large fragments of rock. The column of regolith in the drill tube was then transferred to the soil sample container.
After 26 hours and 25 minutes on the lunar surface, the ascent stage, with the hermetically sealed soil sample container, lifted off from the Moon carrying 101 grams of collected material at 07:43 UT on 21 September. The lower stage of Luna 16 remained on the lunar surface and continued transmission of lunar temperature and radiation data.
The Luna 16 re-entry capsule returned directly to Earth without any mid-course corrections, made a ballistic entry into the Earth's atmosphere on 24 September and deployed parachutes. The capsule landed approximately 80 km SE of the city of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 03:26 UT.
Mission Details
Luna 16 was a landmark success for the Soviets in their deep space exploration program; the mission accomplished the first fully automatic recovery of soil samples from the surface of the Moon. The success came after five failures. After a successful coast to the Moon (which included one midcourse correction), Luna 16 entered circular lunar orbit (at 110 kilometers with a 70° inclination) on 17 September. Two further orbital adjustments on 18 September and 19 September altered both altitude and inclination in preparation for descent to the Moon. At perilune at 05:12 UT on 20 September, Luna 16 fired its main engine to begin its descent to the surface. Six minutes later, the spacecraft safely soft-landed in its target area at 0°41' south latitude and 56°18' east longitude, in the northeast area of the Sea of Fertility, approximately 100 kilometers east of Webb crater. The mass of the spacecraft at landing was 1,880 kilograms. Less than an hour after landing, at 06:03 UT, an automatic drill penetrated the lunar surface to collect a soil sample. After drilling for 7 minutes, the drill reached a stop at 35 millimeters depth and then withdrew its sample and lifted it in an arc to the top of the spacecraft, depositing the precious cargo in a small spherical capsule mounted on the main spacecraft bus. Finally, at 07:43 UT on 21 September, the spacecraft’s upper stage lifted off from the Moon. Three days later, after a direct ascent traverse with no midcourse corrections, the capsule, with its 105 grams of lunar soil, reentered Earth’s atmosphere at a velocity of 11 kilometers per second. The capsule parachuted down 80 kilometers southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 05:25 UT on 24 September 1970. Analysis of the dark basalt material indicated a close resemblance to soil recovered by the American Apollo 12 mission.
- Launch Date/Time: 1970-09-12 at 13:25:53 UTC
- On-orbit dry mass: 5600 kg
| Preceded by : Luna 15 |
Luna program | Followed by : Luna 17 |