Alexander Kemurdzhian | |
|---|---|
 Kemurdzhian on a 2021 post stamp of Armenia[1] | |
| Born | (1921-10-04)October 4, 1921 |
| Died | February 25, 2003(2003-02-25) (aged 81) Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Citizenship | Soviet Union Russia |
| Alma mater | Moscow Bauman Higher Technical College |
| Known for | Chief designer ofLunokhod 1, the firstspace exploration rover |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Engineering (automotive) |
| Institutions | VNII-100 (VNIITransmash) |
Aleksandr Leonovich Kemurdzhian[2][a] (Russian:Александр Леонович Кемурджиан;[5] 4 October 1921 – 25 February 2003) was aSoviet mechanical engineer who worked at theVNIITransmash institute for most of the second half of the 20th century. He is best known for designing the metal chases forLunokhod 1—the first everplanetary rover forspace exploration in theSoviet space program.[6]
Kemurdzhian was born toArmenian parents[3][7] on 4 October 1921 inVladikavkaz, today the capital ofNorth Ossetia.[8][9][5] His father (b. 1898) and mother (b. 1901) were volunteers in theRussian Civil War with the11thRed Army who happened to be in Vladikavkaz at the time of his birth.[9] His paternal grandparents were fromTrebizond who settled inBatumi in the late 19th century, while his mother was fromRostov-on-Don.[7] He was raised inBaku, which he considered his hometown.[7]
In 1940 he enrolled at theBauman Higher Technical College in Moscow.[8][9][5] With the start of theEastern Front ofWorld War II in 1941, he and other students of the tank department were assigned to repair damaged tanks until the institute was evacuated toIzhevsk.[9] In early 1942 he volunteered to join theSoviet Army.[9] Served in the162nd Infantry Division [ru] of theNKVD,[9] he participated in the battles ofKursk,the Dnieper, and theVistula–Oder Offensive.[5][8][7] He rose to the rank ofsenior lieutenant[9] by the time he was demobilized in 1946.[5] For his services, he was awarded theOrder of Courage,Order of the Red Star (1944),[9]Order of the Patriotic War (1945, 1995),[9]Order of the Badge of Honour,[10] and theMedal "For Battle Merit".[9]
Due to the disruption caused by the war, Kemurdzhian graduated from the department oftracked vehicles[10] of the Bauman Higher Technical College in 1951, some 11 years after enrolling.[9][5]
In 1951, Kemurdzhian began working at theLeningrad-based All-Union Scientific-Research Institute No. 100 (VNII-100, now known asVNIITransmash),[5][9][10] whose "primary expertise was building tanks for the Soviet Army."[11] Kemurdzhian's research focused oncontinuously variable transmission intracked vehicles.[9][5] In 1953, he published his first scientific paper, on developing high-temperature cooling systems for engines.[7] In total, Kemurdzhian authored 200 scientific publications (mostly papers, some six monographs)[5] and patented 50 inventions.[12][9]
He defended hisCandidate of Sciences thesis, on thecontinuously variable transmissions forartillery tractors,[7] in 1957.[13] From 1959, he led research onair-cushion vehicles (hovercraft).[8][9][5]
Between 1963 and 1973,[9] Kemurdzhian headed the team assigned to develop the self-propelledchassis for theLunokhod programme.[5][10] His team designed bothLunokhod 1 (1970) andLunokhod 2 (1973).[10][5] In 1969 he was named deputy director and chief designer at VNIITransmash.[5] Under his leadership, the institute became a leader of space transport engineering.[5][9] In 1971 he became Doctor of Technical Sciences[10][9] after defending his dissertation at theInstitute of Mechanical Engineering of the Soviet Academy of Sciences,[7] based on his work onLunokhod 1 and2.[5] He was named professor in 1977.[9]
Kemurdzhian was personally interested in spaceflight and "remote-controlled space probes,"[11] which was known toSergei Korolev.[14] In September 1963 Korolev met with VNIITransmash engineers to discuss the possibilities of developing lunar rovers.[15] The design sketches for the first lunar rover were completed by September 1965.[14] Kemurdzhian provided the main report on the possibility of creating the lunar rover.[16]Georgy Babakin, director ofOKB Lavochkin, and Kemurdzhian worked closely to design the Ye-8 in 1966.[14] In 1967 a final lunar rover design was reached and a prototype was constructed.[14] Early models were sent to the moon onLuna 11,Luna 12 (1966) andLuna 14 (1968).Lunokhod 1, the finalized version, was designed by Kemurdzhian[14][6] and Babakin.[17] Kemurdzhian is credited with being the chief designer of theself-propelledchassis ofLunokhod-1.[16]
Lunokhod 1 was carried to the moon byLuna 17, which was launched on 10 November and landed on the moon on 17 November 1970.[18][19][20] It was the "first successful rover to operate beyond Earth"[18] and the "first self-propelled, crewless vehicle to operate on the moon."[21] It weighed 756 kg (1,667 lb) and was 4.42 m (14.5 ft) long and 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) high. It carried cameras, transmitters and scientific instruments.[14] The remote-controlled robot traveled some 10.54 km (6.55 mi) in 10 months and sent back some 20,000 photos and 200 panoramas. It also completed over 500lunar soil tests.[22]
The M71 landers—Mars 2 andMars 3—which were launched in 1971, both carried a small walking robot calledPrOP-M (ПрОП-М,Pribor otsenki prokhodimosti – Mars, "Passability Estimating Vehicle for Mars") developed by Kemurdzian atVNIITransmash.[23]
In May 1986 Kemurdzhian led a team of researchers to develop therobot STR-1 (СТР-1) in response to theChernobyl disaster. Goal was to support theChernobyl liquidators to investigate and clean up the area.[12][10][5] In Chernobyl he was exposed to excessiveradiation and was treated in a Moscow hospital forradiation burns.[12]
Kemurdzhian transitioned from institute's deputy director to chief scientific officer in 1991,[7] and retired in 1998.[24][12] In 2000 he became a founding member of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics (StPB RAC).[24] In November 2000 he was the chief speaker at the 30th anniversary of the Lunokhod meeting held at theTovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater.[12] His last public appearance took place in mid-January 2003. A few days later he suffered ahip fracture and was hospitalized.[24] He died in Saint Peteresburg on 24[24][12] or 25[9][6] February, 2003. He was buried at theSmolensky Armenian cemetery [hy;ru] in St. Petersburg.[12]
He was married to a Latvian architect and had a son, Vladimir, who headed a lab at VNIITransmash as of the late 1990s.[7]
Kemurdzhian is recognized as the "founder of the Russian school of design of planetary rovers."[24][9] For his work on lunar rovers, Kemurdzhian received theLenin Prize in 1973.[9][10] A minor planet discovered on 26 August 1976 byNikolai Chernykh at theCrimean Astrophysical Observatory was named5933 Kemurdzhian.[25] He was a member ofThe Planetary Society,[3] a corresponding member of theCommittee on Space Research,[7] theEuropean Geosciences Union, and other learned societies.[9] Documents, photos, and other archival materials on Kemurdzhian are kept at theRussian State Archive of Scientific-Technical Documentation.[9]
Malenkov described him as follows: "A sharp mind, quick wit, and immediate response in all, including unexpected, situations; professionalism, encyclopedic erudition, commitment and hard work, multiplied by boundless energy; natural qualities of a leader of any assembly of people or experts, gathered by chance or by virtue of production relations; a charming conversationalist, a poet, and a great storyteller..."[24]
In October 2021 the 100th anniversary of Kemurdzhian's birth was commemorated in Armenia with a conference and a postage stamp.[4][1]
Kemurdzhian, Alexander (October 4, 1921 -February 25, 2003): Russian. Kemurdzhian designed Lunokhod 1, the first space-exploration rover, which roamed on the Moon in 1970.
The development of a self–propelled chassis for the LUNOKHOD was led by A.L. Kemurdzhian, Leningrad scientist, designer, and close collaborator of G.N. Babakina. Jointly with their closest associates, Babakin and Kemurdzhian were granted a patent for the design of the chassis (Malenkov, 2013).
