page_title: Lunokhod 1
section_title: Current location
hierarchical_section_title: Lunokhod 1 / Current location
caption_attribution_description: English: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photo of Lunokhod 1 location
context_page_description: Lunokhod 1 was the first of two robotic lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of its Lunokhod program. The Luna 17 spacecraft carried Lunokhod 1 to the Moon in 1970. Lunokhod 1 was the first remote-controlled robot "rover" to freely move across the surface of an astronomical object beyond the Earth. It was also the first wheeled craft on another celestial body. Lunokhod 0, the previous and first attempt to do so, launched in February 1969 but failed to reach orbit.
  Although only designed for a lifetime of three lunar days, Lunokhod 1 operated on the lunar surface for eleven lunar days and traversed a total distance of 10.54 km.
context_section_description: The final location of Lunokhod 1 was uncertain until 2010, as lunar laser ranging experiments had failed to detect a return signal from it since 1971. On March 17, 2010, Albert Abdrakhimov found both the lander and the rover in Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image M114185541RC. In April 2010, the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO) team from the University of California at San Diego used the LRO images to locate the rover closely enough for laser range (distance) measurements.  On April 22, 2010 and days following, the team  successfully measured the distance several times.  The intersection of the spheres described by the measured distances then pinpoint the current location of Lunokhod 1 to within 1 meter. APOLLO is now using Lunokhod 1's reflector for experiments, as they discovered, to their surprise, that it was returning much more light than other reflectors on the Moon. According to a NASA press release, APOLLO researcher Tom Murphy said, "We got about 2,000 photons from Lunokhod 1 on our first try. After almost 40 years of silence, this rover still has a lot to say."
  By November 2010, the location of the rover had been determined to within about a centimeter.  The location near the limb of the Moon, combined with the ability to range the rover even when it is in sunlight, promises to be particularly useful for determining aspects of the Earth–Moon system.
  In a report released in May 2013, French scientists at the Côte d'Azur Observatory led by Jean-Marie Torre reported replicating the 2010 laser ranging experiments by American scientists after research using images from the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. In both cases, laser pulses were returned from the Lunokhod 1 retroreflector.
caption: LRO image from 2010
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