The next step was to build the astrophotometer, only lunokhod 2 had this device. I have produced a blueprint (figure 1) in 1/10 scale while I created 3D views with Gmax allowing to see precisely its positionning on the lunokhod body. The first step was to build the astrophotometer mainly using 0.75 and 0.25 mm styrene sheets. Figures 2 show the construction process, please note that the inside of the astrophotometer was painted in flat black and a piece of transparent plastic was added to simulate the astrophotometer lens. After applying a surface primer (figure 3) the instrument was then painted in white satin (figure 4).

I then built the support pylon using similar techniques as for the photodetectors pylon, result of this process is shown in figures 5. After applying the surface primer (figure 6) I painted the pylon in chrome (figure 7) and assembled it with the astrophotometer (figure 8). The completed instrument was then assembled onto the lunokhod body as shown in figures 9.
 
 

Fig 2a, b, c : Construction of the astrophotometer - January 2005			Fig 3 : Application of surface primer - January 2005	Fig 4 : Application of white satin paint - January 2005	Fig 5a, b : Construction and checking of the support pylon - January 2005
Fig 5c, d : Construction and checking of the support pylon - January 2005		Fig 6 : Application of surface primer - January 2005	Fig 7 : Application of chrome paint - January 2005	Fig 8 : Final Assembly - January 2005	Fig 9a, b : Completed astrophotometer - January 2005

Photodetectors

Spectrometer