Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle Operations Handbook

Author: Nasa
Publisher: Periscope Film LLC
ISBN: 9781937684891
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Book Description
Developed in only 17 months at a cost of 38 million dollars, the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) greatly expanded the survey range of the astronauts on Apollo 15, 16 and 17. Designed to operate in the low-gravity vacuum of the Moon, the LRV boasted an ingenious design that allowed it to be folded up and stored inside the Lunar Module. It would then be deployed using a system of pulleys and brake reels. The LRV's frame was made of aluminum alloy 2219 tubing assemblies, giving the vehicle a fairly small mass of 210kg but allowing it to carry up to 490kg on the lunar surface. The LRV's lightweight tires were made of zinc-coated steel strands with titanium chevrons and aluminum hubs, and offered a ground clearance of 36cm. The LRV featured two side-by-side, foldable seats, a TV camera, and a dish antenna. Four independent DC motors - one for each wheel - powered by two 36-volt batteries provided maneuvering power. Both sets of wheels could be used to steer, although they could also be decoupled. For safety reasons, astronauts never drove the LRV a distance farther from the LM than they could safely walk in the unlikely event that the rover failed. On each of the three day missions that it was employed, the LRV was used daily for three traverses. The longest was on Apollo 17, when it was driven 20.1km, and it traveled a total of 35.9km on that mission. The total distance traveled by all three LRVs was 90.4km. Almost all of it was done without incident, although some damage to the fender extensions caused dust problems on Apollo 16 and 17. Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 praised the design and operation of the vehicle, saying "...the Lunar Rover proved to be the reliable, safe and flexible lunar exploration vehicle we expected it to be." Originally created for the astronauts by prime contractor Boeing, this Lunar Roving Vehicle Operations Handbook describes the LRV and its systems, and details the deployment and driving procedures. It also details the 1-gravity LRV used to train astronauts on Earth. A lengthy appendix provides performance and other data.

Apollo Operations Handbook Extra Vehicular Mobility Unit

Author: NASA
Publisher: Periscope Film LLC
ISBN: 9781937684860
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Book Description
Created by NASA in 1968 and revised in 1971 for the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions, this handbook explains the extravehicular mobility unit, its subsystems, accessories and operation, as well as emergency procedures.

Lunar and Planetary Rovers

Author: Anthony Young
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387685472
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

Book Description
This book fills a need for a complete history of the Lunar Roving Vehicle used on Apollo 15, 16 and 17, drawing on many photographs never before published. It also tells the story of the robotic rovers used on Mars, and concludes with a description of the new designs of rovers planned for The New Vision for Exploration now underway at NASA. The book provides extensive quotes from the astronauts who drove the LRV on the Moon from interviews conducted especially for the book. It also details new material from interviews of engineers and managers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory covering the robotic rovers, Sojourner, Sprit and Opportunity.

Lunar Sourcebook

Author: Grant Heiken
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521334440
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 796

Book Description
The only work to date to collect data gathered during the American and Soviet missions in an accessible and complete reference of current scientific and technical information about the Moon.

Lunar Rover Manual

Author: Christopher Riley
Publisher: Haynes Publishing UK
ISBN: 9780857332677
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
From the popular Haynes Owners' Workshop Manual space series, which includes NASA Apollo 11 Manual and NASA Space Shuttle Manual, this unique book provides an insight into the only car ever built to be driven on the surface of another world. With a Foreword by the first Apollo astronaut to drive it on the Moon, Dave Scott, and published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of mankind’s final drive on the Moon in December 2012. The book is part mechanical guide, illustrated with many of the technical drawings from the time, and part narrative-driven story of engineering ingenuity and human triumph. It draws on the rich NASA photographic archive and the complete transcripts of the crews' reaction to driving across the Moon, which the authors have an un-paralleled knowledge and experience of working with.

ALSEP Termination Report

Author: James R. Bates
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description

Across the Airless Wilds

Author: Earl Swift
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062986554
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Book Description
"THRILLING. ... Up-end[s] the Apollo narrative entirely." —The Times (London) A "brilliantly observed" (Newsweek) and "endlessly fascinating" (WSJ) rediscovery of the final Apollo moon landings, revealing why these extraordinary yet overshadowed missions—distinguished by the use of the revolutionary lunar roving vehicle—deserve to be celebrated as the pinnacle of human adventure and exploration. One of The Wall Street Journal's 10 Best Books of the Month 8:36 P.M. EST, December 12, 1972: Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt braked to a stop alongside Nansen Crater, keenly aware that they were far, far from home. They had flown nearly a quarter-million miles to the man in the moon’s left eye, landed at its edge, and then driven five miles in to this desolate, boulder-strewn landscape. As they gathered samples, they strode at the outermost edge of mankind’s travels. This place, this moment, marked the extreme of exploration for a species born to wander. A few feet away sat the machine that made the achievement possible: an electric go-cart that folded like a business letter, weighed less than eighty pounds in the moon’s reduced gravity, and muscled its way up mountains, around craters, and over undulating plains on America’s last three ventures to the lunar surface. In the decades since, the exploits of the astronauts on those final expeditions have dimmed in the shadow cast by the first moon landing. But Apollo 11 was but a prelude to what came later: while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin trod a sliver of flat lunar desert smaller than a football field, Apollos 15, 16, and 17 each commanded a mountainous area the size of Manhattan. All told, their crews traveled fifty-six miles, and brought deep science and a far more swashbuckling style of exploration to the moon. And they triumphed for one very American reason: they drove. In this fast-moving history of the rover and the adventures it ignited, Earl Swift puts the reader alongside the men who dreamed of driving on the moon and designed and built the vehicle, troubleshot its flaws, and drove it on the moon’s surface. Finally shining a deserved spotlight on these overlooked characters and the missions they created, Across the Airless Wilds is a celebration of human genius, perseverance, and daring.

The Automotive Chassis

Author: Giancarlo Genta
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 140208675X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 832

Book Description
This work serves as a reference concerning the automotive chassis, i.e. everything that is inside a vehicle except the engine and the body. It is the result of a decade of work mostly done by the FIAT group, who supplied material, together with other automotive companies, and sponsored the work. The first volume deals with the design of automotive components and the second volume treats the various aspects of the design of a vehicle as a system.

Walking to Olympus

Author: David S. F. Portree
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Extravehicular activity (Manned space flight)
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Book Description

Next Stop Mars

Author: Giancarlo Genta
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319443119
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 435

Book Description
This book covers the possible manned mission to Mars first discussed in the 1950s and still a topic of much debate, addressing historic and future plans to visit the Red Planet. Considering the environmental dangers and the engineering and design needed for a successful trip, it covers every aspect of a possible mission and outpost. The chapters explain the motivations behind the plan to go to Mars, as well as the physical factors that astronauts on manned missions will face on Mars and in transit. The author provides a comprehensive exposure to the infrastructure needs on Mars itself, covering an array of facilities including power sources, as well as addressing earth-based communication networks that will be necessary. Mechanisms for return to Earth are also addressed. As the reality of a manned Mars voyage becomes more concrete, the details are still largely up in the air. This book presents an overview of proposed approaches past, present, and future, both from NASA and, increasingly, from other space agencies and private companies. It clearly displays the challenges and the ingenious solutions involved in reaching Mars with human explorers.