The Russian-built Lunokhod 1 became the first remote controlled
rover to land on another planet when it touched down on the
lunar surface in 1970. It managed to continually operate for 11
months — opening up the lid of its tub-like body to reveal a
solar panel when in the sun, and using a radioactive heater to
keep warm in the dark — which means it would have been rolling
around even as the Apollo 14 and 15 manned missions explored the
moon's surface. After those 11 months, it lost contact with its
ground controllers back in the Soviet Union. Well, it looks like
the Lunokhod 1 has turned back up, spotted thanks to a French-
made reflector the rover sports, which was installed for this
very reason: spotting it as it moved around. In practice,
however, it's been very hard to pinpoint, and no one knew where
the Lunokhod 1 was since it dropped out of contact. Professor
Tom Murphy, leading a team in California tasked with coming up
with a precise measurement of the moon's orbit (and thereby
further testing Einstein