Lunar and Planetary Rovers: The Wheels of Apollo and the Quest for Mars Book

Foreword     xiii
Author's preface     xvii
Acknowledgements     ixx
List of illustrations     xxi
From concept to reality     1
Sputnik and Project Horizon     2
Lunar mobility studies at Marshall Space Flight Center     3
The Lunar Exploration and Science Conferences of 1965 and 1967     9
The Lunar Roving Vehicle wins the mobility debate     11
The Lunar Roving Vehicle Request for Proposals     15
The Boeing-Marshall Space Flight Center collaboration     19
The LRV: a spacecraft without precedent     21
The year of discontent: 1970     23
The Lunar Roving Vehicle subsystems     29
The Mobility Subsystem     29
The LRV's chassis, suspension and traction drives     29
A wheel like no other     33
Crew Station Subsystem     39
Navigation Subsystem     41
Electrical Power Subsystem     43
Thermal Control Subsystem     44
Communications Subsystem     48
Stowage and Deployment Subsystem     51
LRV bound for the Moon with Apollo 15     55
Training for the Moon     57
The USGS Branch of Astrogeology     57
Lunar vehicle testing at the USGS     62
A scratch-built trainer     65
Traverse planning and mission geologic training for the J-Missions     68
Teaching the astronauts to be geologists     71
Engineering the 1-G LRV trainer     75
Training at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida     77
Training at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas     79
Visual simulation training at Marshall Space Flight Center     82
Zero gravity and reduced gravity training     82
Training - an astronaut's way of life     84
To the Hadley Plains     85
Checking out the first LRV     85
The landing site, mission rules and lunar science     89
Meticulous planning     91
LRV closeout     95
Launch day - 26 July 1971     96
Rendezvous with the Moon     98
The standup EVA     100
Deploying the Rover and the first traverse     100
Learning to drive on the Moon     102
Returning to the Lunar Module     109
Exploring the Apennine Front     112
Station 6 and 6A     114
A spectacular discovery at Station 7     117
Closeout of EVA-2      118
Recovering the deep core sample and returning to the Rille     119
The first Lunar Grand Prix     120
Exploring Hadley Rille     121
Closing out EVA-3     123
Return and splashdown     125
Re-entry and return to Earth     127
Mysterious and unknown Descartes     129
Cutbacks in the program     129
Landing site selection, mission planning and pre-launch activities     132
Descartes is selected     134
Launch day     136
Go or no go     138
Down among the rocks     139
To Plum and Buster Craters     141
The largest rock sample ever collected     144
The second Lunar Grand Prix     146
South to Stone Mountain     147
Losing the fender extension     149
Lunar dust problems     152
North Ray Crater, House Rock and Shadow Rock     155
It's further away than you think     157
Leaving Descartes for home     160
A safe return     161
Destiny at Taurus-Littrow     163
Apollo 17 crew selection     165
Apollo 17 landing site selection     166
Mission and EVA traverse planning     168
Pre-launch activities     171
The night launch of Apollo 17     173
Landing at Taurus-Littrow     174
An eventful day     176
A fender crisis averted     178
On to Station 1     182
The lunar dust problem returns     184
Back inside Challenger     187
Solving the fender problem and crater exploration     189
Towards the South Massif     191
Unexpected discoveries     193
Closeout of EVA-2     196
The last day on the Moon     199
Towards the North Massif     199
The Sculptured Hills     202
Van Serg Crater     203
The era of lunar exploration draws to a close     205
Returning home     207
The end of the Apollo era     207
The quest for Mars     209
The Viking missions     209
Pathfinder and Sojourner     212
Early rover prototypes     212
Rover designs evolve     214
Pathfinder and Sojourner design     216
On to Mars     218
First wheels on Martian soil     220
Disaster strikes the Mars exploration program     224
Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity     225
Success under pressure     226
MER from the ground up and inside out     228
The EDL system and lander     230
Race to the Cape     232
The Mars Exploration Rovers begin their mission     233
Spirit explores Gusev Crater     235
Opportunity explores Meridiani Planum     239
Mars science laboratory     243
The Mars Science Laboratory Mast Camera (MastCam)     245
Laser-Induced Remote Sensing for Chemistry and Micro-Imaging (ChemCam)     245
Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI)     246
Alpha Particle X-Ray Specrometer (APXS)     246
Chemistry & Mineralogy X-Ray Diffraction/X-Ray Fluorescence Instrument (CheMin)     246
Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD)     247
Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)     247
Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)     247
The MSL Rover configuration     248
Launch vehicle and spacecraft     249
Landing site selection     250
The exploration of space and life on Earth     251
The Vision for Space Exploration     253
Post-Apollo proposals for America's future in space      254
Pioneering the Space Frontier     254
Leadership and America's Future in Space     255
The Space Exploration Initiative     258
America at the Threshold     259
Patience and persistence     262
The Vision for Space Exploration     265
From vision to reality     267
Lunar and Martian rover planning for the VSE     271
Future rover requirements and missions     271
Pressurized or unpressurized rovers?     273
Field testing new technologies     274
The Exploration Systems Architectural Study     277
Space exploration and national leadership     280
Planetary Rover Missions     283
The Lunokhods: Russia's Marvelous Robotic Rovers     293
Bibliography     295
Index     301