End of Mission
On June 4, 1973 it was announced that the program was completed, leading to speculation that the vehicle probably failed in mid-May or could not be revived after the lunar night of May–June.
More recently, Alexander Basilevsky related an account where on May 9, 1973, the rover's open lid touched a crater wall and became covered with dust. When the lid was closed for the lunar night, this dust (a very good insulator) was dumped on to the radiators. The following lunar day, controllers saw the internal temperature of the Lunokhod climb as it was unable to cool itself, eventually rendering the rover inoperable.
Read more about this topic: Lunokhod 2
Famous quotes containing the word mission:
“The mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation.”
—William McKinley (1843–1901)