Slashdot Mirror
Apollo 15 Commander Talks About Developing and Driving Lunar Buggy
szczys writes: Greg Charvat recently sat in on an MIT course called "Engineering Apollo". For this set of sessions, David Scott recounted his experience as an astronaut. David was the commander of the Apollo 15 mission, flew several others, and took part in the development of much of the equipment used in the moon missions. The class is basically him hanging around with a bunch of engineers talking in a level of detail rarely heard. From the Hackaday article: "As if you had any doubts, but David confirms the lunar rover was really fun to drive. The vehicle had a wide wheel base, a low center of gravity, and each wheel had its own motor. But there was one occasion that caused a stir when the rover nearly slid down a mountain."
if you almost slid off a moon mountain...you might be a redneck
Grr, thanks for reminding me that I'm still trying to save up for a used PS3 so I can http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-...
Whoever came up with that choice phrase ought to stick to using words and phrases that they actually know the meaning of...
Image stabilized video from Apollo 16 detailing the awesomeness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cKpzp358F4
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
They did all this essentially with pencils, rulers, and slide rules.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Obligatory.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
Even less well known... They almost slid off a mountain because they were testing Tang based margarita mix.
Trek predates actual Apollo missions. I believe I've seen some pre-Sputnik Buck Rogers clips where they did in situ repairs. I wonder who the original Space MacGyver is?
By the way, Apollo 17 fixed a broken buggy fender with a map and duct tape: http://science.nasa.gov/scienc...
If Trek were realistic, you'd also see some failures . "I hope using Spock's head as an R-wave conductor can restart the warp engine; the Klingons are nearing. Let's go: 3...2...1... AAAUU!!UUGG g g aak k k.....k."
Table-ized A.I.
It's kind of funny that they once envisioned this:
http://public.media.smithsonia...
But instead we got this:
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/def...
To be frank, it looks like a 2nd grade science project using cardboard, aluminum foil, and brass-colored duct-tape.
If somebody brought a model of that to school in the 50's as a lunar lander project, it would be laughed at, smashed, and given an "F", not necessarily in that order.
I remember seeing some aerospace contractor sketches of the early 60's. It started out a bit cleaner, but over time became more and more skeletal. No politically-conscious manager would approve a contract with something that ugly, so they dressed it up a bit.
I would note that Von Braun sketched up spindly looking designs in the early 50's: http://www.astronautix.com/cra...
Ahead of his time.
Table-ized A.I.
...sat in on an MIT course called "Engineering Apollo"
Even MIT is teaching courses that are nothing but rehashes of history? Seriously? I mean in theory, there's something to be learned from how it was done before, but from the description, this is just an excuse to rub elbows with an astronaut for bragging rights.
From rumors it is said that the moon bugys were built so well that all you have to do is bring a new battery and it will go again. True False Other?
Why would the centre of gravity move just because the rover is on the moon? Is the heavy end of a hammer still heavier than the light end on the moon? Of course it is. The overall weight may have changed, but it hasn't changed shape and the matter hasn't somehow shifted around.