One of the strangest aspects of NASA's lunar program is the question of why American astronomers had to drag a self-propelled crew to the moon on Apollo missions. The answer to this question is simple: well, the Americans could not deny themselves the pleasure of rolling on the moon "with a breeze." This pleasure is more than dubious from the point of view of research work, but extremely spectacular. However, the pursuit of special effects played another cruel joke on them.
From the encyclopedia "Cosmonautics": "American Astronauts in 1971-72. During the last three expeditions on the spacecraft Apollo-15, Apollo-16 and Apollo-17, the Rover lunar self-propelled vehicle, delivered to the Moon in one of the compartments of the lunar cabin, was used to move on the lunar surface in the landing area. Two-seat self-propelled vehicle, four-wheeled. The design maximum speed is 13 km / h, in fact, the speed of 18 km / h was reached (when descending from a slope). The service life is 65 km (the actual mileage was: during the flight of the Apollo 15 spacecraft - 27.2 km, Apollo 16 - 27.1 km, Apollo 17 - 35.7 km). The turning radius is 6 m, the braking distance is about 3 m. The self-propelled lunar vehicle is designed to overcome slopes up to 20 °, obstacles up to 0.3 m high and cracks up to 0.7 m wide.
The mass of the loaded lunar self-propelled vehicle is 725 kg (including the Rover itself - 211, astronauts with backpack life support systems - 364, scientific instruments - 54, survey and communication equipment - 69, samples of lunar rocks, etc. - the rest) … The length of the self-propelled lunar vehicle - 3.1 m, width - 2.1 m, height - 1.1 m, track width - 1.83 m, width of each of the four wheels - 0.23 m, wheel diameter - 0.81 m The frame of the lunar self-propelled vehicle and the tubular chair are made of aluminum alloy, the seat and backrest are made of nylon. Strips of adhesive on the back support the backpack life support system, and ribbed nylon harness and dust fenders are provided. Wheel suspension - torsion bar. All wheels are leading. The rims are braided from 0.84 mm diameter zinc-coated wire. Titanium alloy strips are riveted to the rim to protect against abrasion and improve traction. An electric motor with a power of 183.9 W is mounted in the hub, connected to a single-stage gearbox (gear ratio - 80: 1). Additionally, there are front and rear electric motors (73.5 W each, gear ratio - 257: 1), connected to the wheels by special rods and providing a turn. Two non-rechargeable silver-zinc batteries are used to power the lunar self-propelled vehicle, each resource having 121 Ah, power 150 W, rated voltage 36 V, operating temperature 4-52 ° C. Additionally, there are front and rear electric motors (73.5 W each, gear ratio - 257: 1), connected to the wheels by special rods and providing a turn. Two non-rechargeable silver-zinc batteries are used to power the lunar self-propelled vehicle, each resource having 121 Ah, power 150 W, rated voltage 36 V, operating temperature 4-52 ° C. Additionally, there are front and rear electric motors (73.5 W each, gear ratio - 257: 1), connected to the wheels by special rods and providing a turn. Two non-rechargeable silver-zinc batteries are used to power the lunar self-propelled vehicle, each resource having 121 Ah, power 150 W, rated voltage 36 V, operating temperature 4-52 ° C.
The first thing that catches your eye is the frank "weakness" of the lunomobile. All four engines on its wheels add up to exactly 1 (one) horsepower. But these are executive motors, they would probably take such power, but who will allow them? After all, the total power of the two batteries is 300 W, i.e. only 0.4 hp. The mass of this "shaitan-arba" is like that of the "Zaporozhets", and only a centner less than that of the "Zhiguli", and its capacity is 0.4 liters. from.? I looked in the house for a household appliance with the power of an American moon car. Drill - 750 W, meat grinder - 420 W, finally, the old coffee grinder - 115 W. Can you imagine a Zaporozhets driving on dry sand with an engine not of 30 kW, but 0.3 kW?
NASA specialists will say that I do not understand anything about lunomobiles, that on the Moon the Rover drove quickly on the sand, leaving deep ruts, dashingly climbing hills, etc. I saw that too. But that is a movie! And I - about life.
Take a stopwatch with a tape measure and run up one flight of stairs as quickly as possible. Measure the time it took and the height of the flight. Then multiply your weight (in kilograms) by the height of the flight (in meters) and divide by the time (in seconds) and 75. I am sure that the result (your horsepower) will be greater than one. And there is nothing strange in this: any person can develop a power of 1 liter without any problems. with., trained people develop a power of several horsepower, and athletes - up to 10. Ask yourself: why was it necessary to drag a cart weighing 210 kg to the moon, that is, one and a half times more than the mass of both astronauts, if each of them can develop power for a long time (say, when walking) more than the power of this "car"?
The amateur cyclist can reach a speed of 30 km / h without any problems. At the speed of a lunar car (10 km / h), the cyclist spends the same amount of energy as during normal walking, at a speed of 5 km / h - 4 times less. That is, if it was really about the Moon, then American engineers would connect two bicycles together and make the astronauts pedal, while the cart would be 10 times lighter than the Rover, and its power - 10 times more.
Promotional video:
However, such a structure would certainly not impress Stanley Kubrick - he needed to show the automotive power of the United States. But to give that cart a capacity of at least 4 liters. with., it had to load 300 kg of batteries. Here are the American crooks and got out: they loaded 30 kg of batteries, and the air was filled with chatter about the frantic speed of this unit.
But the most important thing is different. In some photographs of the lunar car, you pay attention to the ruts from the wheels. Rather, their complete absence. There are as many footprints from the feet of the astronauts as you like, but from the wheels - no! Neither front nor back! How did the lunomobile end up in this particular place without leaving a trace of its arrival? You see - the lunar regolith is soft, the lunar Pindos have stamped their tracks with their feet - but there is no trace of the wheels.
I love this photo. On it, the satisfied lunar Pindos demonstrated how they resourcefully repaired a broken wing visor by tying a lunar map to it. That is, this photo must be exactly from the Moon. Well, where is the wheel mark?
And although there is a trace in the photo in the title, it is also very interesting - you see, on the track from the right wheel, right on top of the trace, there is a hefty stone. How did he get there? Was it brought there by the moon Pindos and put it? And, excuse me, why?
And here's another great photo:
There are traces of the lunar Pindos - there are no traces from the wheels of the lunar rover.
You ask - how did it happen? It is so banal - in order not to trample in the frame, the layout was put on the site with a crane. They could have left on their own - but the model, apparently, does not even know how to drive itself.
I think everything is obvious here.
And, finally, it is generally doubtful that the lunar module suddenly found a load capacity of 325 kg (this is the mass of the lunar rover with instruments). You know that to save weight, the module is literally made of tin; you can pierce it with a screwdriver without straining? The designers saved every kilogram, and suddenly they found an extra 325 kg to load this strange cart. About the alignment of the rocket and modules flying to the Moon, when an additional 325 kg was tied to the LANDING module SIDE by straps - I don't even remember. No, do you really believe that all these absurdities could actually be in real flights?
This is Hollywood, baby. Everything was filmed in the pavilions. There weren't any Pindos on the moon, and there couldn't be.