 | Luna 13 Credit - Andy Salmon
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Manufacturer's Designation: E-6M. Class: Planetary. Type: Lunar Lander. Destination: Moon. Nation: Russia. Agency: NII-88. Manufacturer: Korolev. Modernized version of the E-6 with the ALS lander mass increased from 84 kg to 150 kg. Conducted further scientific investigation of the moon and circumlunar space. As with the E-6, after impact on the lunar surface by landing bag, the petal encasement of the spacecraft was opened, antennas were erected, and radio transmissions to Earth began four minutes after the landing. The additional payload meant that in addition to the camera the spacecraft was equipped with a mechanical soil-measuring penetrometer, a dynamograph, and a radiation densitometer for obtaining data on the mechanical and physical properties and the cosmic-ray reflectivity of the lunar surface.
Mass: 1,700 kg (3,700 lb). Main Engine: KTDU-5A.
Luna E-6M Chronology - 1966 December 21 - Luna 13 - Program: Luna. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Complex: LC1. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz. Mass: 1,700 kg (3,700 lb).
Soft landed on Moon 24 December 1966 at 18:01:00 GMT, Latitude 18.87 N, 297.95 E - Oceanus Procellarum. The petal encasement of the spacecraft was opened, antennas were erected, and radio transmissions to Earth began four minutes after the landing. On December 25 and 26, 1966, the spacecraft television system transmitted panoramas of the nearby lunar landscape at different sun angles. Each panorama required approximately 100 minutes to transmit. The spacecraft was equipped with a mechanical soil-measuring penetrometer, a dynamograph, and a radiation densitometer for obtaining data on the mechanical and physical properties and the cosmic-ray reflectivity of the lunar surface. It is believed that transmissions from the spacecraft ceased before the end of December 1966.
Bibliography:- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page (launch records), Harvard University, 1997-present. Web Address when accessed: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
- JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Web Address when accessed: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.
- Semenov, Yuri P Editor, Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya 'Energia' imeni S P Koroleva, Moscow, Russia, 1996.
- Varfolomyev, Timothy, Spaceflight, "Soviet Rocketry that Conquered Space - Part 5", 1998, Volume 40, page 85.
- National Space Science Center Planetary Page, As of 19 February 1999.. Web Address when accessed: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/planetary_home.html.
- NASA Report, Luna-13 is on the moon, Web Address when accessed: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670008714_1967008714.pdf.
- NASA Report, Success of Luna-13. The moon is not a dead heavenly body, Web Address when accessed: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19670013930_1967013930.pdf.
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