Lunar and Planetary Rovers

The Wheels of Apollo and the Quest for Mars fills a need for a complete history of the Lunar Roving Vehicle used on Apollo 15, 16 and 17, drawing on many photographs never before published. It will also tell the story of the successful robotic rovers used on Mars, and will conclude with a description of the new designs of rovers planned for The New Vision for Exploration now underway at NASA.In the Introduction, Anthony Young discusses the influence of art and images in both books and magazines that sparked interest in manned space travel. The Cold War launched the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union and the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions are provided in overview as a prelude to following chapters.Chapter One explains the early concepts of a lunar rover even before the start of Apollo. Following Apollo 11, requests to Industry for proposals are made, and Boeing wins the contract to design and build the Lunar Roving Vehicle. The book covers the complete program from Boeing's perspective as well as the Marshall Space Flight Center.Chapter Two details the testing undertaken by the astronauts with the 1-G trainer in desert environments as well as simulators, as well as at Kennedy Space Center in full EVA suits. Chapters Three, Four and Five cover Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17 respectively, when the lunar geology field trips were conducted, and the successful use of the LRV on the moon. Chapter Six describes the engineering of the Martian robotic rovers Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity. Chapter Seven covers the future use or manned and unmanned rovers in NASA's New Vision for Exploration. TOC:Chapter One: From Concept to Reality-Chapter Two: Training for the Real Thing-Chapter Three: Man Must Explore-Chapter Four: Grand Prix at Descartes-Chapter Five: Apollo 17 at Taurus-Littrow-Chapter Six: The Quest for Mars-Chapter Seven: The New Vision of Exploration.