The constraints of the Apollo 15 mission dictated that the average and limiting performance capabilities of the first manned Lunar Roving Vehicle, when operated on the lunar vehicle, be known or estimated within narrow margins. For this reason, extensive studies were conducted during the year preceding the Apollo 15 launch and are described herein. The results of these studies are compared with the actual performance of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the Apollo 15 mission. From this comparison, conclusions are drawn relating to the capabilities and limitations of current terrestrial methodology in predicting the mobility performance of lunar roving vehicles under in-situ environmental conditions, and recommendations are offered concerning the performance of surface vehicles on future missions related to lunar or planetary exploration.

"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.

Reviews Apollo mission reports, preliminary science reports, technical crew debriefings, lunar surface operations plans, and various relevant lunar experiment documents, collecting engineering- and operation-specific information by experiment. Organized by discrete experimental and equipment items emplaced or operated on the lunar surface or at zero gravity during the Apollo missions. Also attempts to summarize some of the general problems encountered on the surface and provides guidelines for the design of future lunar surface experiments with an eye toward operations.

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.

Presents the established principles underpinning space robotics with a thorough and modern approach. This text is perfect for professionals in the field looking to gain an understanding of real-life applications of manipulators on satellites, and of the dynamics of satellites carrying robotic manipulators and of planetary rovers.

This will be the only book on planetary rover development covering all aspects relevant to the design of systems

Terramechanics and Off-Road Vehicle Engineering, 3rd Edition provides comprehensive and in-depth coverage of terrain behavior, mechanics of wheel- and track-terrain interaction, and various types of models for cross-country performance, ranging from empirical, through theoretical, to physics-based engineering models. The physics-based models for wheeled and tracked vehicle performance developed under the direction of Prof. J.Y. Wong have been gaining increasingly wider acceptance by industry and government agencies around the world. The mathematical models established for vehicle-terrain systems will enable the engineering practitioner to evaluate, on a rational basis, a wide range of options and to select an appropriate vehicle configuration for any given mission and environment. This long-anticipated revision presents the fields' significant developments over the past decade, both through updates to existing chapters and the inclusion of new material related to modelling applications in addition to a notable, state-of-the-art excursus on extra-terrestrial rovers. - Provides a comprehensive introduction to the mechanics of vehicle-terrain interaction - Demonstrates through examples the application of computer-aided engineering methods to the parametric analysis of off-road vehicle performance - Covers the most recent advancements in the off-road vehicle industry, encompassing evaluation, design, development, and/or procurement of high-mobility equipment for the recreational, agricultural, construction, mining, military, and aerospace sectors