Vestigios de Rover russo encontrado 37 anos depois

Em 1973, os russos enviaram à Lua o Lunokhod

2 que percorreu pelo menos 37 quilómetros da superfície Lunar.

Agora, foram encontrados vestígios do mesmo por Phil Stook, cientista da Universidade de Western Ontario nas fotos realizadas pela sonda espacial LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter).

Pode ler mais sobre este achado, na Ciência Hoje:
“A agência norte-americana publicou uma série de fotos da superfície lunar, esta semana, realizadas pela sonda espacial LRO – Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter e um investigador canadiano, enquanto analisava imagens da Nasa, encontrou o rasto do rover russo que se perdeu na Lua há 37 anos.
Phil Stooke, cientista da Universidade de Western Ontario, conseguiu encontrar pistas do Lunokhod 2, o rover enviado em 1973 pelos russos que percorreu pelos menos 37 quilómetros de superfície – nesse dia, o robot conseguiu o recorde de distância percorrida num corpo celeste.
Na foto usada por Phil Stook, os rastos do Lunokhod 2 são bastante discerníveis. Segundo o cientista, conhecendo a história da missão, é fácil agora retraçar o percurso do rover soviético.”

Na Astrobiology Magazine:
““The tracks were visible at once,” says Stooke. “Knowing the history of the mission, it’s possible to trace the rover’s activities in fine detail. We can see where it measured the magnetic field, driving back and forth over the same route to improve the data. And we can also see where it drove into a small crater, and accidentally covered its heat radiator with soil as it struggled to get out again. That ultimately caused it to overheat and stop working. And the rover itself shows up as a dark spot right where it stopped.””

Mas curiosamente, na foto, o local dito pelo Stook não era o correcto!
Como é dito na Planetary Society e na Universe Today, o Lunokhod vê-se na imagem mas num outro local!

Originalmente pensava-se que era onde está a seta negra, mas afinal é onde diz está a seta branca a apontar para um objecto brilhante!

“It turns out the original image that showed what Dr. Stooke thought was the Lunokhod 2 rover’s location was not quite correct. Emily Lakdawalla posted a story about it on The Planetary Society Blog, and so I checked with Stooke. He replied: “After I posted my “discovery” Sasha Basilevsky, a veteran Russian planetary scientist, sent me and Emily an image – the one she put on her blog – which shows the true situation. My dark spot is a dark marking the rover made as it turned in place before heading out on one last short drive. That took it out beyond the edge of my image. That new image shows the rover as a bright spot. Yes, I concur with their interpretation. My spot was made by the rover but it’s not actually the rover itself.”

So, I have updated the image above to show the actual final resting spot. The black arrow shows the spot that Stooke originally thought was the rover, where the white arrow shows the real rover. The smaller white arrows point out the rover’s tracks.”