Surveyor Lunar Rover
Spacecraft · USA
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
American lunar rover. Cancelled 1965. Follow-on Surveyor unmanned lunar landers were to deploy small nuclear-powered rovers (a carry-over from the cancelled Prospector spacecraft).
As Surveyor experienced greater delays, and budgets tightened, the rover was cancelled.
Related
- Family
- Lunar Landers, Lunar Rovers, Moon
- Country
- USA
- Launch Vehicles
- Atlas, Atlas SLV-3C Centaur
- Agency
- JPL
Chronology
2 events
1965 March 18-25
- Isotope generator for the Surveyor Apollo lunar roving vehicle - .
Nation: USA.
Program: Apollo.
Spacecraft Bus: Surveyor.
Spacecraft: Surveyor Lunar Rover.
The Atomic Energy Commission evaluated proposals by Radio Corporation of America and General Electric (GE) for an isotope generator for the Surveyor lunar roving vehicle, and assigned follow-on work to the latter firm. GE's concept, it was felt, was compatible with the possible requirement that the fuel source might have to be carried separately aboard the LEM. MSC's Propulsion and Power Division reported that the generator's "prospects . . . look(ed) very promising."
1965 July 21
- Surveyor small rover cancelled - .
Nation: USA.
Program: Apollo.
Spacecraft Bus: Surveyor.
Spacecraft: Surveyor Lunar Rover.
Several lunar surface vehicles received national attention:
- NASA announced that it had dropped plans for developing a small rover to be carried to the moon aboard soft-landing Surveyor spacecraft. This action, the space agency said, stemmed from a desire to concentrate on the development of the spacecraft per se and on its scientific instrumentation.