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Luna 23 | font size="+1"> Luna 23 | | olspan="2" bgcolor="#000000" align="center" font size="-1" color="#ffffff"| | | b> Organization: | Soviet Union | | b> Major Contractors: | GSMZ Lavochkin | | b> Mission Type: | Planetary Science
Lunar Sample Return | | b> Satellite of: | Moon | | b> Launch: | October 28, 1974 at
14:30:32 UTC | | b> Launch Vehicle: | Proton 8K82K + Blok D | | b> Mission Highlight: | Landed on moon
November 6, 1974
at ~12 N - ~62 E.
Failed to return sample. | | b> Mission Duration: | 12-days November 9, 1974 | | b> Mass: | 5,800 kg | | b> NSSDC ID: | 1974-084A | | b> Webpage: | NASA NSSDC Master Catalog | | olspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#skyblue"|Orbital elements | | b> Semimajor Axis: | 6,476.8 km | | b> Eccentricity: | ? | | b> Inclination: | 138 | | b> Orbital Period: | ~119 minutes | | b> Apogee: | 104 km | | b> Perigee: | 94 km | | b> Orbits: | ~48 | | b>Entered Lunar orbit: | November 2, 1974 | | b>Lunar Landing: | November 6, 1974 | b>Landing
coordinates: | ~12 N - ~62 E. | | olspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#skyblue"|Instruments | | b> Stereo imaging system : | Lunar photography | | b> Improved drill/arm sample collector : | collect lunar material | | b> Radiation detector : | Lunar radiation environment | | b> Radio-altimeter : | | Luna 23 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 23. Luna 23 was a Moon lander mission which was intended to return a lunar sample to Earth. Launched to the Moon by a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster, the spacecraft was damaged during landing in Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). The sample collecting apparatus could not operate and no samples were returned. The lander continued transmissions for 3 days after landing. In 1976, Luna 24 landed several hundred meters away and successfully returned samples. Luna 23 was the first modified lunar sample return spacecraft, designed to return a deep core sample of the Moons surface (hence the change in index from Ye-8-5 to Ye-8-5M). While Luna 16 and 20 had returned samples from a depth of 0.3 meters, the new spacecraft was designed to dig to 2.5 meters. After a midcourse correction on 31 October, Luna 23 entered orbit around the Moon on 2 November 1974. Parameters were 104 x 94 kilometers at 138 inclination. Following several more changes to the orbit, the spacecraft descended to the lunar surface on 6 November and landed in the southernmost portion of Mare Crisium. Landing coordinates were 13 north latitude and 62 east longitude. During landing in unfavorable terrain, the landers drilling device was evidently damaged, preventing fulfillment of the primary mission, the return of lunar soil to Earth. Scientists devised a makeshift plan to conduct a limited science exploration program with the stationary lander. Controllers maintained contact with the spacecraft until 9 November 1974. - Launch Date/Time: 1974-10-28 at 14:30:32 UTC
- On-orbit dry mass: 5600 kg
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