|
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 ")
NASA's Psyche Mission To Metal Asteroid Launches Thursday!
'We can even fuel the space ships and mine the Asteroid Belt for rare metals...'
Space Weather To Universe Weather
'It radiates outward in a cone which, by the time it has reached our section of space, is many lightyears across.' - Poul Anderson, 1953.
That's MOXIE! Terraforming Mars Baby Steps
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock.' - Jack Williamson, 1931.
Solar X-Flares Disrupt North American Radio And Navigation
'A true cosmic storm!' - Jack Williamson, 1939.
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
Feel The Rhythm, Robots - Especially You Biomimics
Alive with technology.
NASA's Psyche Mission To Metal Asteroid Launches Thursday!
'We can even fuel the space ships and mine the Asteroid Belt for rare metals...'
Peyton Manning's French Bread Olympics - Science Fiction Style
'the inauguration of the helium-filled loaf...'
Tesla's Optimus Robot Now Sorts Objects (I've Got A Job In Mind)
'Then they press one of these here thirteen buttons...'
CADRE Robots To Work In Teams On Other Planets
'You're a stable, rock-bottom mining robot, except that you're equipped to handle six subsidiaries in direct coordination...'
18 Wheels Mutant Centipede Vehicle
'If a centipede were a dinosaur and made of metal to boot...'
Octopus Suckers Inspire Transdermal Patches
'...a capsule which he placed against his wrist.'
Robotic Hands Have More Than One Use
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Space Weather To Universe Weather
'It radiates outward in a cone which, by the time it has reached our section of space, is many lightyears across.'
That's MOXIE! Terraforming Mars Baby Steps
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock.'
'No, I'm Not A Robot' - Robot
'... with a weird simulation of life, the ten forked ends of each arm commenced a rattling pressing of the buttons.'
Missing Jet Finally Found
Ah, what could have been - still in the future.
Philippines Coast Guard Cuts Chinese Barrier
'Each of the four areas is enclosed by a sonic wall...'
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
'If you surf over a bump... If you surf over a pothole...'
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'
| Home | Glossary
| Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact
Us | FAQ | Advertise | Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™ Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved. |
||