Self-propelled automatic chassis of Lunokhod-1: History of creation in episodes

Abstract

This report reviews the most important episodes in the history of designing the self-propelled automatic chassis of the first mobile extraterrestrial vehicle in the world, Lunokhod-1. The review considers the issues in designing moon rovers, their essential features, and the particular construction properties of their systems, mechanisms, units, and assemblies. It presents the results of exploiting the chassis of Lunokhod-1 and Lunokhod-2. Analysis of the approaches utilized and engineering solutions reveals their value as well as the consequences of certain defects.

Keywords

moon rover / self-propelled chassis / propulsion / wheel / suspension / soil properties / cross-country ability

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Acknowledgements

The author expresses his gratitude to all VNIItransmash veterans of space studies who provided support throughout the years when the author collected data and edited the story of the creation of the self-propelled chassis of Lunokhod-1. The first article that the author devoted to this subject was published in the newspaper “Izvestia” in 1990. The author also remembers and recognizes the collaborators who are no longer with us, including A. L. Kemurdjian and teammates in collaborative research V. V. Gromov, I. S. Bolkhovitinov, and F. P. Shpak.‚‚This publication was made possible through the financial support of the project of the Ministry of Education (Grant No. 14.576.21.0050, universal ID RFMEF157614X0050).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg