Luna 16
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified.
Turn it in 3D
Open the 3D viewer (www.spaceradar.ai).
The viewer loads when you ask: about 700 kB the first time (three.js and the model), much less after.
Pictures 4
Three-quarter view
From the side
From behind
From above
About this model
Luna 16 is one of the 203 3D models Space Radar made itself: a lander or rover, built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh.
Shape built from published dimensions and pictures; details simplified. It has 15,028 triangles in a 131 kB glTF file, and is 3.3 m across at full scale.
It is part of the map’s library; no object on the live map is drawn with it today.
Dimensions and their sources
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Max diameter | 3.3 m |
| Whole craft length | 3.1 m |
| Landing mass | 1880 kg |
Orbital Focus, 'Luna 16', orbitalfocus.uk/Diaries/Luna/Luna16.php, OPENED 2026-10-26: 'Maximum Diameter: 3.3 metres (including landing legs)' and 'Length: 3.1 metres', which is the whole craft with its ascent stage; the page names four landing legs, fuel tanks, a landing radar, a descent engine, a television camera watching the drilling area and 'an extendable arm with a drilling rig'. Wikipedia, 'Luna 16', en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_16, OPENED 2026-10-26: 'The mass of the spacecraft at landing was 1,880 kilograms'; the drill 'withdrew its sample and lifted it in an arc to the top of the spacecraft'. The two pages give no height or tank size, so OURS: every other size, read off the photographs of the two 1:1 copies with the 3.3 m as the ruler (the legs' pads 1.43 m from the middle, the two tanks 0.92 m by 0.8 m by 1.1 m each, the stage's cradle 1.2 m up, the arm's length), about 10 to 15 percent. THE ARM'S POSE is OURS: raised toward the empty seat of the ascent stage, as the described arc and the museum copies show it; where it was left is not published (read 2026-10-26)
How it was made
Built in code from published dimensions and photographs, with no image-to-3D generator and no one else’s mesh. 3D model: built by Space Radar from published dimensions and photographs of museum models (Stolbovsky, CC BY 4.0; Krassotkin, CC0; Denis Nosov, CC0; NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University, public domain).
The full record
built by this project in code (release 1.4.0 stage r14-m8's scripts, one a craft, on release 1.3.0's part library, kept with the stage's notes), from the cited dimensions and the pictures under `references`; no image-to-3D model was used, and no published mesh (NASA's 3D Resources on GitHub, 1 583 paths, science.nasa.gov/3d-resources, 377 entries, and NASA Science's 3D-type resources have none of these craft; Lavochkin publishes none; read 2026-10-26)
Where the map uses it. the luna-16 landing site (registry/sites.yaml), Mare Fecunditatis: Luna 16's descent stage as it stands, the ascent stage gone from its cradle, the drill arm raised. It was the generic lander (scene/models.js `lander`), which is still what is drawn while this file is on its way; public #1128
Licence note. CC BY 4.0 (Stolbovsky's photographs of the copy in Kaluga), CC0 (Krassotkin's and Denis Nosov's photographs of the models in Kaluga and Moscow) and Public domain (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University's LROC picture of the stage; the 1970 stamp): looked at, with credit; nothing of them is in the file. The Moscow replica's photographs under CC BY-SA were looked at only. The shape is this project's, under this repository's licence, built from published numbers (facts). NO LOGO AND NO LETTERING is on the mesh.
References 9
What the shape was compared with. None of these pictures is in the file.
- Luna 16 Space Probe 01StolbovskyCC BY 4.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Luna 16 Space Probe 02StolbovskyCC BY 4.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Luna 16 Space Probe 03StolbovskyCC BY 4.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Luna 16 Space Probe 04StolbovskyCC BY 4.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Kaluga Wikiexpedition (2016-06-11) 0460KrassotkinCC0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Луна-16 в Государственном музее истории космонавтики (51247727190)Denis NosovCC0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- The Soviet Union 1970 CPA 3952 stamp (Luna 16 Leaving Moon (1970.09.20))USSR PostPublic domain (USSR Post; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Luna 16 descent stageNASA/GSFC/Arizona State UniversityPublic domain (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University; Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
- Luna 16BembmvCC BY-SA 3.0 (Commons' LicenseShortName, read 2026-10-26)
_0460.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
).jpg){kind=link}
Use it
The model is under the MIT licence: use it, change it and share it, in any project, also a paid one. Keep the credit:
Luna 16 3D model by Space Radar (spaceradar.ai), MIT LicenseAny glTF 2.0 loader that reads meshopt compression (EXT_meshopt_compression) opens the file: three.js with its MeshoptDecoder, Babylon.js, model-viewer. Tools such as glTF-Transform can write an uncompressed copy.
Or embed the viewer in your page:
<iframe src="https://www.spaceradar.ai/model/?id=luna-16" title="Luna 16, 3D model by Space Radar" width="600" height="450" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:100%"></iframe>Related models
