Works of the Department of lunar
and
planetary research of GAISh MGU
 |
|
"Luna-3" |
|
On the 7th October 1959, the first ever
images of the far side of the Moon were received from the Luna-3
automatic interplanetary station. The photographic data, sent back to the
Earth, were sent for examination to three astronomy institutions: the Main
Astronomy Observatory (Pulkovo), the Astronomical Observatory of Kharkov
University, and the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute (GAISh MGU). In
Moscow, the Central Science-research Institute of Geodesy, Aerial
photography and Cartography (TsNIIGA&K) soon joined the work. |
 |
| Yu. N. Lipsky |
|
It is
generally recognised that the most revealing processing of the images was
done jointly by collaborations of specialists from GAISh and TsNIIGA&K. The
technique of preliminary disencoding and processing of the images was
carried out by a team led by Yu. N. Lipsky. |
On the basis of the data, the first map of the
lunar far side was prepared, including hundreds of surface details apparent from
their reflective characteristics. A full catalogue of theses structures was
released in the Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon (1960). Soon after,
GAISh and TsNIIGA&K jointly prepared the first lunar globe, covering 2/3 of the
lunar hemisphere not visible from the Earth.
 |
| S. P. Korolev |
|
In studying the first space photographs of
the Moon, a group of specialists gathered in the mid-60s to found the
Department of the Physics of the Moon and Planets of GAISh, and on the
initiative of the head constructor of space-rocket technology, Academic S.
P. Korolev, its aim was set to be the research and processing of space
photographs of the Moon and the preparation of lunar maps and globes. The
head of the department and the supervisor of all its work was Yu. N. Lipsky. |
The first associates of the Department of the
Physics of the Moon and Planets were L. N. Bondarenko and K. I. Dekhtyareva. In
1964, on the request of S. P. Korolev, a graduate of MIIGA&K,
V. V. Shevchenko was sent to the department, followed in 1965 by Zh. F.
Rodionova and V. I. Chikmachev. These associates, and the associates of the
Laboratory of Photometry and Spectroscopy, Yu. P. Pskovskii, M. M. Pospergelis
and V. V. Novikov, were to be the core of the creative collective, which for
many years under the guidance of Yu. N. Lipsky researched many different aspects
of the lunar surface.
 |
|
Zond-3 |
|
In mid-1965, after the near pass of the
Zond-3
automatic interplanetary station and its new photography of the surface,
the first stage of a global review of the lunar surface was completed. The
images revealed many trends in the structure of the relief of both
hemispheres of the Moon. The most significant was the demonstration of the
asymmetry of the positioning of the maria features over the lunar surface.
Previously unknown morphologies of relief were discovered. On the basis of
all the available data from space and Earth-based observations of the lunar
surface, GAISh and the Topogeodesic Service produced the first ever
Complete Map of the Moon, and the first complete globe. |
After the unexpected death of S. P. Korolev
(1966), Yu. N. Lipsky and his team of lunar researchers lost their support from
the leading space organisations of the country, since the new leadership of the
Constructors' Bureau (CB) had no interest in fundamental research of the Moon.
 |
| V. P. Glushko |
|
At this difficult moment for scientists,
the Head Constructor of rocket engines, V. P. Glushko, came to their aid.
Thanks to his active cooperation, work on the second part of the Atlas of
the Far Side of the Moon
was successfully completed, and the Complete Map of the Moon and
complete globe (1967) were released. With the cooperation of V. P Glushko,
special spherical screens with high-precision surfaces were prepared for the
projection of a measurement complex. These unique photogrametric devices
were used for cartographic processing of data from both the Moon and Mars. |
Over the last 13 years, in cooperation with other specialist
organisations, seven different lunar maps have been prepared and published; five
editions of the lunar globe, and a three-volume edition of the Atlas of the
Far Side of the Moon.
These work have firmly ensured the place of Soviet science in
the global cartography of the Moon. An special confirmation of this is the
written request from the leader of the Apollo programme V. von Brown, sent on
the eve of the first piloted flight to the Moon, for the map we prepared.
GAISh became the leading astronomical institute of the
country in the field of lunar research. By a decision of the Astronomy Council
of the Academy of Sciences, GAISh MGU was awarded the coordinating role for the
lunar research (1972).
At this time the Department of the Physics of the Moon and
Planets was working with the CB, led by G. N. Babakinym. Yu. N. Lipsky and V. V.
Shevchenko developed a photometric experiment, realised on the Lunokhod-2
rover, which normalised the images on the basis of an external standard (1973).
The results of this work allowed the study of the photometric characteristics of
the thin fraction soil in its natural location.
Under the supervision of M. M. Pospergelis, and later V. V.
Novikova, with the assistance of A. P. Popov, S. I Ivanov and others, over
several years natural Earth analogues of lunar and Martian landscapes were
studied for field tests of automatic self-propelling rovers (lunokhods
and marsokhods - moon and mars rovers). For this purpose, several
expeditions were made, together with the planetokhod constructors, to the
volcanic regions of the Kamchatka peninsula.
 |
|
V.P.Barmin |
After V. P. Glushko was made Director and General Constructor
of the Energy
Science-Production Union (1974) the department's collective became included
in a many-year task to design habitable bases on the Moon and Mars. This
direction of research, put to the Department of the Physics of the Moon and
Planets of GAISh was entitled "A detailed description of selected regions for
bases." The work began in 1976 and continued uninterrupted until the early 90s.
A complex programme of lunar research was developed in the
department which included research of the physical surface, the relief, and the
crustal material of the Moon according to the results of Earth and space
photographs. The methods of selenodesy, cartometry and morphometry, and
planetary astrophysics were all employed. The fundamentals of this programme
were devised back in the second half of the 60s as the principles of physical
cartography by Yu. N. Lipsky and V. V. Shevchenko and later published in a
series of works. In later development, these ideas became the basis of physical
selenography. The most significant results were generalised in the monograph by
V. V. Shevchenko Sovremennaya Selenografiya (Contemporary Selenography)
(Nauka, 1980).
Data from Earth-based photometry of the Moon in combination
with results of photometric processing of remote imaging allowed V. V.
Shevchenko to obtain the magnitudes of the basic photometric constants of the
Moon. The magnitude of the opposition effect (the increase of brightness close
to zero phase) was used in obtaining these constants, measured in real
conditions of true full Moon from space photographs. For the first time, a
spatial scattering index was constructed, a numerical model of the mean
photometric function of the lunar top-surface. This research was later
generalised in the book Luna i ee nablyudenie (The Moon and observations
of it) (Nauka, 1983).
At the end of the 70s, the first stage of research of the
comparative morphology of the surfaces of the Moon, Mercury and Mars was
completed. Yu. N. Lipsky, Zh. F. Rodionova, T. P. Skoboleva, K. I. Dekhtyareva
and others together with colleagues from the Geological Institute of the Academy
of Sciences carried out a complex of studies of the distribution of craters of
different sizes on the surfaces of these bodies. The catalogues produced
included more than 50,000 structures. The atlas of crater density distributions
on the three bodies was made of around 40 maps. The statistical analysis of
these data established the basic trends in the distributions of ring structures
over 10 km in diameter.
After the death of Yu. N. Lipsky (1978) V. V. Shevchenko took
over heading the department. The department's sphere of research continually
widened, becoming known as the Department of Lunar and Planetary Research in
1978.
 |
| Crater
of Lipsky |
|
In honour of Yu. N. Lipsky, who laid the
foundations of the contemporary research of the Moon in GAISh and led the
work for many years, a crater in the very centre of the far side of the Moon
was given his name. |
In 1978, by a decision of the executive committee of the
International Astronomical Union, V. V. Shevchenko was made chairman of the
thematical group on lunar nomenclature and a member of the IAU working group on
the nomenclature of planetary systems.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the start of lunar
research from space, the department carried out a review of current research. A
collection of papers, Problemy kompleksnogo issledovaniya Luny (Problems
of lunar research) (MGU, 1986), was published.
In the 80s, the department intensively developed the
laboratory and field research of analogues of the top-surface of the terrestrial
moons and planets. V. V. Novikov, A. P Popov, M. V. Goryachev, S. I. Ivanov and
others developed a method of remote evaluation of the mineralogical composition
and physico-mechanical properties of rocks using telescopic spectral and
polarisation observations of the Moon and analogous aerological and laboratory
studies of Earth rocks. The field research was carried out in regions of
volcanic covering on the Kamchatka peninsula. Regular observations were made on
the Zeiss-600 high-mountain middle-Asia expedition of GAISh (near the town of
Maidanak). In only the first two years of observations, more than 200
photographs were obtained.
Using a unifying multiplexer with a spherical screen, V. I.
Chikmachev constructed a phototriangulation grid over the region of the far side
of the Moon, from the large-scale trajectorial images sent back from the
Zond-3 interplanetary station (1986).
V. A. Nikonov further perfected the global bearing
selenodesic grid on the basis of several catalogues of coordinates, generated
from high-precision Earth and space measurements (1986).
A. N. Sanovich together with G. A. Leikinym developed a model
for the formation of multi-ring basins on the surfaces of planets and moons,
which showed that their formation is connected with the acceleration of
compression waves with depth, which naturally, in the presence of a crust, are
covered by a regolith layer.
S. G. Pugacheva carried out a statistical analysis of the
heat radiation of the lunar surface using Earth-based telescopic photographs.
Later development of this work yielded a catalogue of the brightness and heat
characteristics of 750 regions of the lunar surface and a map of heat anomalies.
The results were published in the monograph Yarkostnye kharakteristiki
infrakrasnogo i vidimogo izlucheniya lunnoi poverkhnosti (The brightness
characteristics of the infra-red and visible radiation of the lunar surface)
(MGU, 1989), prepared jointly with K. I. Dekhtyareva and V. V. Shevchenko.
Zh. F. Rodionova together with T. P. Skobeleva, K. I.
Dekhtyareva, and others completed a colossal task in producing a wholly new type
of catalogue of lunar craters. The Morfologicheskii katalog kraterov Luny
(Morphological catalogue of the craters of the Moon) (MGU, 1987) for a long time
had no analogues abroad. For the 15,000 lunar craters greater than 10 km in
diameter, nine parameters were recorded describing the crater and the surface
around it. This catalogue still remains a valuable source of material for
various analyses of the crater population of the Moon in this range of sizes.
Later, in 1994, Zh. F. Rodionova completed work on an analogous catalogue of
ring structures of Mars. The morphological catalogue of Martian craters details
19,300 structures.
In the second half of the 80s work began on the development
of methods for remote estimation of extra-terrestrial resources. This task was
initiated by contract with the organisation NPO Energiya in choosing a location
for a long-term lunar base (1982-86). A contemporary review of the world level
of analogous research was made in the publication Lunnaya baza - proekt XXI
veka (Lunar base - a project for the XXIst century) (VINITI, 1989) by V. V.
Shevchenko and V. I. Chikmachev. A detailed development of this theme was done
by V. V. Shevchenko. Recognition of the high level of these developments was
made by the invitation of V. V. Shevchenko as one of two plenary speakers to the
NASA symposium "Lunar bases and space activity in the 21st
Century", in April 1988, Houston, Texas, USA. The organisers of the symposium
entitled the presentation "The Soviet view of a lunar base". The other speaker
was K. Sullivan, the official representative of NASA, astronaut, and at that
time, member of the National Space Commission. The text of V. V. Shevchenko's
presentation was published in several american journals.
In February 1991 a conference organised by the Department of
Lunar and Planetary Research, "Scientific problems in creating a lunar base" was
held in GAISh. Results from previously secret scientific and project
developments on the practical exploitation of the Moon and the construction of
lunar bases using Soviet rocket systems were presented for the first time. The
scientific aspects of a long-term inhabited base discussed included the
forecasting and detection of extra-terrestrial natural resources using remote
methods of planetary astrophysics. V. V. Shevchenko, Zh. F. Rodionova, V. V.
Novikov, V. I. Chikmachev, S. G. Pugacheva, A. N. Sanovich, V. V. Busarev, T. P.
Skobeleva and K. I. Dekhtyareva all gave presentations on different aspects of
this field. A collection of papers proceeding from the conference were published
as Astronomicheskie aspekty osvoeniya Luny i poisk vnezemnykh resursov
(Astronomical aspects of the exploitation of the Moon and the search for
extra-terrestrial resources) (MGU, 1993).
The further development of the research on lunar exploitation
and lunar bases won a series of contracts from 1994-98 and contributed to
international projects, one of which was involvement in some special
publications from the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
dedicated to Man and the Moon (1995).
From 1992-1996 V. V. Shevchenko advanced the hypothesis of an
intense comet shower in the inner Solar System 10 million years ago, the traces
of which are the diffuse structures on the Moon. Further development of these
ideas came after the discovery of polar ice emplacements on the Moon. V. V.
Shevchenko, together with A. A. Berezhnoi have shown the possibility of a
cometary origin for the ices in a series of publications (1997-1998).
In June 1994 V. I. Chikmachev and S. I. Ivanov carried out
observations of a unique event on the AZT-22 telescope at the Maidanak
Observatory - the appearance of impact structures in the atmosphere of Jupiter
as a result of the collision of fragments of the disintegrated comet nucleus
Schumaker-Levy 9. Analysis of the images enabled the reconstruction of the
spatial structure of the impact ejecta in the regions where the largest
fragments fell.
In 1997 V. I. Chikmachev and S. I. Ivanov observed the comet
Hale-Bopp close to the moment of perihelion using the GAISh AZT-2 telescope.
The implementation of the international Russian-French
project to carry out spectral observations of the Moon began in 1990. After
successful joint observations on the 2-m Lio Telescope at the Pic-du-Midi
Observatory (France) an agreement of scientific cooperation was made between the
P. Sabbatier University in Toulouse, France, and the Sternberg State
Astronomical Institute of Moscow University. On the French side, P. Pinet became
the project leader; on the Russian side, V. V. Shevchenko. In 1995, the
agreement was extended to cover the theme "High-resolution multispectral
cartography of structures on the lunar surface". To date, a series of extremely
interesting studies of the diffuse structures on the Moon have been carried out,
using both Earth-based and remote (Clementine) spectral images.
V. V. Shevchenko
Copyright © 1998-2014. All rights reserved.
Webmaster 
Last
revised:
04.20.2015 15:42:31
