The Lunar Rover (sometimes also called the "moon buggy", and officially named Lunar Roving Vehicle - LRV) was a surface exploration rover used on the Moon during the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions.
The original vehicle was developed in only 17 months by Boeing (although there were cost overruns), it was mostly made of aluminium and had a top speed of about 8 mph (13 km/h) and a weight of 463 lb (210 kg). A total of four rovers had been built, but only three were used as Apollo 18 and further missions had been cancelled.
The rover was first used on July 31, 1971 during the Apollo 15 mission and finally allowed the astronauts to expand the range of their lunar explorations - previous missions only allowed short walking distances around the landing site. In case of a technical malfunction the astronauts would have been force to walk back the way to the landing site, therefore the traverses were limited in the distance. But all three rovers performed well and didn't cause any major problems.
The LRV was an electric so that it could operate in the vacuum of the Moon. Each wheel had its own 200W electric drive and brakes, it had both front and rear steering motors and was powered by two 36V non-rechargeable batteries. A colour television camera was mounted on the front and could be remotely operated by Mission Control, which allowed far better television coverage of the EVA than the earlier missions. A large mesh dish antenna was mounted on a mast on the front center of the rover.
The rover was operated using a hand controller situated between the two seats, control and display modules were situated in front of the handle and gave information on the speed, heading, pitch, power and temperature levels. All movements were continuously recorded and the overall direction and distance back to the landing site were computer controlled.
All three NASA rovers have been abandoned on the Moon where they can still be found today, although they are far too small to be visible on the surface using telescopes.
Got a Question? Ask.
Ask the community a question about this article:
Frequently Asked Questions
Garage property
By: seeker | 16-08-2008
There was a flyer circulating in the Toledo OH area of someone selling amazing garage spaces for approx $100K.
Does anyone Have any info on this, a website or name?
How to share office space with someone when there ...
By: jud | 16-08-2008
how to share office space with someone when there isnt much space?
Library Scinece
By: latoshacompton | 15-08-2008
I would like to know how long is the library science degree program. And alos what classes do you have to take?
Need daughter to contact lonelly mother
By: shirley | 15-08-2008
looking desperately for my daughter hername is tara but i;ve always called her boo-boo she is 17 an somewhere in newport ore.i haven;t seen her for about 9 yrs now we got seperated when she was about 8yrs dose any one happen to know her or have a adress phone or even a email address? my name is petie
Price for in home office
By: judy | 14-08-2008
i am now self employed and getting ready to figure out my yearly expenses i have an in home office so how do i go about claiming t his for an expense thanks
Which is faster- smaller or larger nerve fibers ...
By: eysbluelpn5 | 14-08-2008
which is faster- smaller or larger nerve fibers?qt=q
Q&A Powered by:
Latest Science Articles
A Note on Iso 9000 and Iso 14000
By: Mahdi | 05/10/2008
ISO is a federation of national standard institutes of 157 countries on the basis of one member per country. ISO name means International Organization for Standardization.
ISO has been developing voluntary technical standards over almost all sectors of business, industry and technology since 1947. The work is carried out by the expert from the concerned industrial, technical and business bodies and may be joined by relevant government agencies, academic and testing laboratories.
Desertification
By: Frank Lee | 05/10/2008
A quick article on desertification, its causes, and its consequences.
Don't Hurt the Feelings of Your Hibiscus!
By: Joel Kontinen | 05/10/2008
A study on plant dignity won the 2008 Ig Noble peace prize. The study claimed that plants might posess inherent dignity
Air Polution Riding Wave of Technological Change
By: Oladokun Sulaiman | 05/10/2008
Article desclibe how air emision is driving recent technological change
Environmental Risk Aversion for Waste Derived Biomass
By: Oladokun Sulaiman | 05/10/2008
This paper will discussed the need to choose waste derived biofuel above all other food sources. The paper will also used risk based environmental philosophy procedure to described risk and risk abatement required to come up with a potential best sustainable bioenergy generation system.
Synthetic Systems Biology
By: PRASANNA BHAGWAN | 04/10/2008
The payoff for systems biology research is not merely abstract mathematical understanding, but empowerment to design new and improved functions via synthetic biology.
There are number of exciting and profound issues that are actively investigated, such as robustness of the biological systems, network structures and dynamics and applications to drug discovery etc.
Plastic Surgery: the Mathematics of Beauty
By: Robert | 04/10/2008
Bodily beauty explained according to the principle of the Golden Ratio/Phi
Plastic Surgery Procedures Can Create Wellness for All
By: Robert | 04/10/2008
How plastic surgery changed the outlook of many people’s lives and how it benefits people to have plastic surgery.
More from Jos Kirps
They Killed a 14 Year Old Boy, Just to See if it Was Possible to Commit the Perfect Crime
By: Jos Kirps | 17/01/2008 | News and Society
Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were two wealthy University students who murdered a 14 year old boy in 1924. They were only 19 and 18 years old, and they killed the boy just to prove themselves that it was possible to commit a perfect crime.
Intellivision: a Game Console Far Ahead of Its Time
By: Jos Kirps | 17/01/2008 | Computer Games
Intellivision was the first 16 bit game console ever released and introduced a lot of new concepts and technologies: innovative game controllers, superior graphics and sound, game downloads, home computer extensions, a voice synthesis device and a synthesizer keyboard for example.
How to Get your Own Domain Name
By: Jos Kirps | 17/01/2008 | Domain Names
A lot of people now have a blog, many more are planning to get one and some people even run an entire website. An own domain name would be cool - but now that domain names are quite inexpensive it becomes in fact very hard to find an available one.
The Apollo 20 Alien Spaceship Hoax
By: Jos Kirps | 17/01/2008 | Science
Apollo was NASA's moon exploration program. In 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to walk on the moon with Apollo 11, the last Apollo mission was Apollo 17 in 1972. Apollo 18, 19 and 20 were planned missions, but due to budget constraints they were finally canceled.
A Tribute to Captain Future
By: Jos Kirps | 17/01/2008 | Television
Captain Future is science fiction character invented by writer Edmond Hamilton. Captain Future first became popular during the 1940's when stories about the character were published in pulp magazines, later on he got his own magazine and finally he got cult status after the anime series was produced in the late 1970's.
The Worst Movie Ever: a Turkish Star Wars Clone
By: Jos Kirps | 17/01/2008 | Movies
There are many bad sci-fi movies, and for many years movie addicts even considered Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space" to be the worst movie of all times. But "Plan 9" is still a pretty good movie when compared to "Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam", a film commonly known as "Turkish Star Wars".
How to Put a Virtual Solar System Onto your Website or Blog
By: Jos Kirps | 17/01/2008 | Blogging
Wouldn't it be cool if you could place a solar system with exoplanets onto your site? Okay, this may sound quite irritating, so let me explain...
David Prowse - the Man Behind Darth Vader's Mask
By: Jos Kirps | 16/01/2008 | Movies
David Prowse is the man who played the Darth Vader character in the original Star Wars trilogy. He was born on July 1, 1935 in the UK and became a bodybuilder, weightlifter and an actor. When he was casted for the Darth Vader character he was 6 ft 6 in (198cm) high and weighed 265 lbs (120kg). Today he's 72 years old.
Education 
About the Author:
