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Lunar Sortie Vehicle
Credit - NASA
Other Designations: Lunar Sortie Vehicle. Class: Manned. Type: Lunar Rover. Destination: Moon. Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. Manufacturer: North American.

The Lunar Sortie Vehicle (LSV), was a North American Rockwell design of 1971, conceived as a railroad train without the rails. The LSV consisted of three pressurized units and several unpressurized power, utility/equipment trailers

One pressurized unit served as the locomotive at the front of the caravan. The pressurized units were typical cylindrical pressure vessels with spherical end caps. A Mobile Power Unit, one of the unpressurized units in the middle of the train, used a large radiothermal generator using plutonium or other isotopes to generate 3.5 kW of power. The front pressurized unit contained six wheels and served to propel the train. A crew of 6 could be accommodated for a total mission length of 90 days.

Crew Size: 6. Electrical System: RTG. Electric System: 3.50 average kW.


Bibliography:

  • Zakrajsek, James J; McKissock, David B; Woytach, Jeffrey M; Zakrajsek, June F; Oswald, Fred B; McEntire, Kelly J; Hill, Gerald M; Abel, Phillip; Eichenberg, Dennis J; and Goodnight, Thomas W, Exploration Rover Concepts and Development Challenges, NASA/TM-2005-213555 / AIAA-2005-2525, March 2005..


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© Mark Wade, 1997 - 2008 except where otherwise noted.