The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle was an engineering marvel, but It would have collapsed on Earth under the weight of a suited astronaut. That's because it was designed to operate in lunar gravity, which pulls with about 15% as much force as Earth gravity. In the 1960s, engineers at the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Branch built a near-copy of the Apollo rover that could be used on Earth for astronaut training and lunar exploration planning. They called it Grover the Geologic Rover. Below are a set of photos detailing the assembly process and astronaut training which involved Grover.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Astrolink Online Exhibits
The NASA/USGS Astrolink is dedicated to providing online exhibits of archived materials. Astrolink houses a large collection of historical artifacts in relation to space exploration, map-making, and planetary geology.
Astrolink
- Overview
The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle was an engineering marvel, but It would have collapsed on Earth under the weight of a suited astronaut. That's because it was designed to operate in lunar gravity, which pulls with about 15% as much force as Earth gravity. In the 1960s, engineers at the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Branch built a near-copy of the Apollo rover that could be used on Earth for astronaut training and lunar exploration planning. They called it Grover the Geologic Rover. Below are a set of photos detailing the assembly process and astronaut training which involved Grover.
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Astrolink Online Exhibits
The NASA/USGS Astrolink is dedicated to providing online exhibits of archived materials. Astrolink houses a large collection of historical artifacts in relation to space exploration, map-making, and planetary geology.
Astrolink
The NASA/USGS Astrolink, located in the Shoemaker Building (Building 6) on the USGS Campus in Flagstaff, Arizona, is a facility of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Astrolink houses 3,000 square feet of climate-controlled space with more than 100,000 lunar and planetary maps, a reference library, an ever-growing photo and document archive that chronicles the history and on-going activities of...