western Mare Imbrium, about 60 km south of the Promontorium Heraclides. The lander had dual ramps from which the payload, Lunokhod 1, could descend to the lunar surface. At 06:28 UTC the rover moved onto the Moon's surface. The rover would run during the lunar day, stopping occasionally to recharge its batteries via the solar panels. At night the rover hibernated until the next sunrise, heated by the radioactive source. Small craters along its traverse were named unofficially during the mission. The names were officially approved by the IAU in 2012. They are called Albert, Leonid, Kolya, Valera, Borya, Gena, Vitya, Kostya, Igor, Slava, Nikolya, and Vasya. 1970: November 17 – 22: The rover drove 197 m, returned 14 close-up pictures of the Moon and 12 panoramic views, during 10 communication sessions. It also conducted analyses of the lunar soil. December 9 – 22: 1,522 m 1971: January 8 – 20: 1,936 m February 8 – 19: 1,573 m March 9 – 20: 2,004 m April 8 – 20: 1,029 m May 7 – 20: 197 m June 5 – 18: 1,559 m July 4 – 17: 220 m August 3 – 16: 215 m August 31 – September 14: 88 m End of mission and results Controllers finished the last communications session with Lunokhod 1 at 13:05 UT on September 14, 1971. Attempts to re-establish contact were finally discontinued and the operations of Lunokhod 1 officially ceased on October 4, 1971, the anniversary of Sputnik 1. During its 322 Earth days of operations, Lunokhod 1 travelled 10,540 metres (6.55 miles) and returned more than 20,000 TV images and 206 high-resolution panoramas. In addition, it performed 25 lunar soil analyses with its RIFMA x-ray fluorescence spectrometer and used its penetrometer at 500 different locations. Current location The final location of Lunokhod 1 was uncertain until 2010, as lunar laser ranging experiments had failed to detect a return signal from it since 1971. On March 17, 2010, Albert Abdrakhimov found both the lander and the rover in Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image M114185541RC (Line 21977, Sample 3189). In April 2010, the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO) team from the University of California at San Diego used the LRO images to locate the rover closely enough for laser range (distance) measurements. On April 22, 2010 and days following, the team successfully measured the distance several times. The intersection of the spheres