We are waiting for the Chinese to successfully recycle their own lunar rover. The previous Chang 'e plan also put the lunar rover "Jade Rabbit" on the surface of the moon, but did you know that as early as the arms race stage in the 1970s, human beings realized "manned driving" on the surface of the moon, driving pure electric new energy vehicles?
In Apollo missions 197 1 and 1972, 15, 16 and 17, astronauts also set foot on the surface of the moon. The moon? Wandering? Vehicle? Lunar rover, referred to as LRV. This car is usually called "the moon? Baby carriage ",the word baby carriage is familiar to everyone, which means a dune cart walking on the moon."
It can be seen that LRV is really like ATV on earth, or UTV without roll cage. LRV is developed and manufactured by Boeing Company, with its own weight of 2 10kg, and provides a load of 490 kg including the weight of astronauts, which is based on the data under the gravity of the earth. In addition to two astronauts, these loads can also be distributed to other equipment and collected samples. The design top speed of LRV is 13km/h, but in Apollo 17 mission, its "sprint speed" reached 18km/h, which is considered as the fastest record of human driving on the moon.
In these three missions to the moon, LRV successfully completed the 30-kilometer mileage of landing on the moon every time, and no major accidents occurred. But compared with the tools that Chang 'e V will take to the moon, LRV has no return function, that is to say, these three moons? Four-wheel drive, still on the surface of the moon
In fact, the idea of a lunar rover appeared before the American Apollo program. In an academic paper about mankind's imminent conquest of space in the 1950s, some scientists proposed a six-week moon stay plan. In this plan, the lunar rover has become an important tool for material transportation and replenishment.
Making people with ideas become leaders is the first step to realize unconstrained ideas. Feng? Braun became the director of NASA's Space Flight Center in the early 1960s. He recruited Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Motors and Bell Aerospace to study the spacecraft on the surface of the moon. In the earliest idea, the lunar rover was launched as a tool in an independent lunar module, but the US Congress cut the budget of Saturn V, so the lunar rover needed to be sent to the moon in the same lunar module as the astronauts, so the small lunar rover became the most ideal scheme.
1969 in may, NASA approved the development of the lunar rover. 1In July 1969, Apollo 1 1 landed on the moon with earthlings. At the same time, NASA officially issued a proposal to develop and build LRV. Three months later, Boeing's plan defeated competitors such as Chrysler and prepared to go into space. But in fact, Boeing's LRV scheme can be said to be jointly manufactured with General Motors. The General Defense Department is responsible for providing vehicles, power systems and suspension systems, while Boeing is responsible for chassis, electronic systems, assembly and testing. Boeing1* * manufactured four LRVs, which were used in Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17 respectively, and the other one was used as a test and backup vehicle. The whole plan cost $38 million. In my understanding, this cost is quite economical.
In the Apollo mission, LRV was first used. Greatly expanded the scope of human exploration of the moon. Because astronauts need to wear huge spacesuits on the moon, it is very inconvenient to move. In the past, they could only move around the lunar module. With the car, it is obviously much more convenient for astronauts. Paradoxically, for safety reasons, the range of LRV activities is also limited to the radius where astronauts can safely walk back to the lunar module to prevent the car from breaking down.
How exciting is it to drive on the moon at 18 km/h? Sorry, I'm not sure. So far, only three "drivers" and three "navigators" have driven cars on the surface of the moon. The commander of the mission to the moon will be the pilot, while the astronaut on the other side will be the pilot. Theoretically, LRV drives on the left, and the commander will sit in the left seat.
In terms of size, the length of LRV is 3 meters, but the wheelbase is 2.3 meters, so the appropriate space is used efficiently; In terms of ground clearance, the ground clearance of LRV reaches 360mm because of the huge wheel hub, which is hard-core off-road data; The aluminum alloy tube of the vehicle frame is welded, the seat is foldable, there are handrails in front of the two seats, the seat can be manually adjusted, and it is equipped with nylon seat belts. The comfort configuration and safety configuration look good. LRV is driven by electricity, with four driving motors and two steering motors, and its endurance can reach 92 kilometers. There is also a 36V socket in front of the LRV driver, which can supply power for the communication relay unit and the camera. Opening LRV can surpass Raikkonen's image as a "war correspondent" and exclude the moon POV angle VLOG. LRV uses joystick to control the direction, push forward, push back the brake, press the button and then pull back, which is the reverse gear. Is the operation simple?
After three Apollo missions to the moon, LRV remained on the moon, but we can still see LRV for testing or scaled-down replicas in museums on earth. The original engineering model is now on display at the Flight Museum in Seattle. In other aviation museums in the United States, you can also find LRV test cars or replicas to display. LRV is the epitome of human exploration of the moon in the last era. 2 1 century, Mr. Musk can tie Tesla to a rocket and send it into space. Who can guarantee that there will be no F 1 Grand Prix on the moon in the future?
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.