Author
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Topic: Apollo Lunar Rover Vehicle (LRV) engineering
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Jay Gallentine Member Posts: 287 From: Shorewood, MN, USA Registered: Sep 2004
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posted 01-04-2012 08:54 PM
Last week, a man who worked on the Soviet Lunokhod rover was lamenting to me that he knew almost nothing about the Apollo Rover. In particular, he was wondering how engineers overcame the problem of lubricating friction pairs in a vacuum.Perchance, is there any source of information out there on details like these? |
sts205cdr Member Posts: 649 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Jun 2001
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posted 01-04-2012 09:57 PM
Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen may be able to answer your question. I don't have his e-mail address, but you might be able to get it through the U.S. Space Camp.Strange as it may seem, I've heard that Sperm Whale oil may have been used for some U.S. spacecraft. |
Jay Gallentine Member Posts: 287 From: Shorewood, MN, USA Registered: Sep 2004
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posted 01-07-2012 01:52 PM
That is a great tip; thank you! |
wickball Member Posts: 107 From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 01-07-2012 04:51 PM
What are friction pairs? |
ilbasso Member Posts: 1522 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 01-07-2012 05:30 PM
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, etc.  |
Jay Gallentine Member Posts: 287 From: Shorewood, MN, USA Registered: Sep 2004
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posted 01-08-2012 12:55 AM
A friction pair is two pieces of metal that rub against each other - pistons in a cylinder, as just one example. In a vacuum, they can fuse together. |
nasamad Member Posts: 2141 From: Essex, UK Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 01-08-2012 03:33 PM
This question got me thinking about that problem, and I'm wondering given the intended operating life of the rovers, would they have needed to overcome that problem? The Lunokhod missions were way longer than the lunar rovers so would have needed greased bearings etc, especially as they had sampling arms. |
space1 Member Posts: 861 From: Danville, Ohio Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 01-08-2012 05:34 PM
Any spacecraft documentation I have seen refers to a dry film lube. But I don't have details handy that would describe it in greater detail. |
GACspaceguy Member Posts: 2516 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 01-08-2012 05:56 PM
Typical aerospace dry film lub is Molybdenum Disulfide. You can read more about it here. |