The Lunar Roving Vehicle or LRV is a small dune-buggy car that permitted the Apollo astronauts to drive from the vicinity of their landing site on the moon to make geological observations, collect rock/soil samples and use scientific instruments at various moon locations. The Lunar Rover was first used during Apollo 15 which launched on July 26, 1971. This was the fourth lunar landing that permitted human exploration on the Moon's surface. The LRV was also used during Apollo missions 16 and 17.The LRV weighed about 480 earth pounds (80 pounds on the moon). It could carry two astronauts along with their portable life support systems and scientific instruments. The LRV could carry about twice its own weight so there was plenty of room for the lunar material samples the astronauts collected. The LRV was designed for low speed and high torque. It was limited to 8 mph (3.5 meters per second) for safety reasons. Going over rough lunar surfaces could have been a danger to the crew. It could climb a 25 degree slope so it could more easily travel over the uneven surface.
The wheels on the rover were made of wire mesh (piano wire) with titanium cleats for treads. The engineers did not use solid or air-filled rubber tires because they would have been much heavier. The Apollo spacecraft could only carry a fixed amount of weight (mass) so the wire-mesh wheels were important for keeping the weight of the vehicle low.
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lunar rover photo
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