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Red rover, red rover
Mar. 27th, 2025 06:48 pmThe Kermangrad munbase has received a new rover, but it almost did not.
In building the munbase, the mechanism was to have a lander with a ramp that tilted down, off of which the base modules would roll into place. Delivering a rover was done similarly. However, the variation on module masses also led to a variation in lander performance. Some landed quite hard as the descent profile was changed. The rover, being heavier than other modules, suffered the same issue and, on the descent, it became clear that the craft would land at too high a velocity.
Seeing this in advance, though, ground controllers at the Tsentr upravlyeniya polyotami were able to quickly upload a contingency program to the munokhod so that, if it survived the impact, it would realign itself so that it would be upright, with the wheels taking the bulk of the impact and thus allowing the rover to survive.
And that is what happened. The lander hit the munar regolith at over 30 meters per second. The lander was, of course, in no way designed to survive this impact, the tanks ruptured on impact and the remaining fuel and oxidizer mixed and exploded, throwing the rest of the craft, consisting of the rover and most of the ramp, back up. The contingency program initiated and the gyrodynes reoriented the craft so that when it came back down to the munar surface it landed upright on its wheels, sustaining no additional damage.
The rover was able to disconnect from the ramp and roll towards the base where Cosmonaut Engineer Konstantin Petrovich Kermanov was waiting to inspect it.
It was not broken, but was still wrong.
The original munokhod rover had eight flexible wire mesh wheels that, while light and fast, were not terribly sturdy. They had a tendency to allow the vehicle to slide or drift while traversing the munar regolith.
The new rover had only four wheels but those wheels were larger, heavier, and, though slower, should be able to provide better grip and braking power. The wider wheel base would also make the rover more stable on inclined terrain.
However, when the wheels were fitted onto a chassis essentially identical to the previous rover, the more sturdy suspension was not fully accounted for. The rover had a slightly higher clearance and, because of that, the docking port on the rear of the rover would not line up with the docking ports on the base modules.
“And this is why,” the Chief Designer said, deflecting from the design flaw, “crewed cosmonautics is so vitally important.” Cosmonaut Engineer Konstantin Petrovich was able to torch the docking port off its mountings and weld it back in place in the proper alignment.
In building the munbase, the mechanism was to have a lander with a ramp that tilted down, off of which the base modules would roll into place. Delivering a rover was done similarly. However, the variation on module masses also led to a variation in lander performance. Some landed quite hard as the descent profile was changed. The rover, being heavier than other modules, suffered the same issue and, on the descent, it became clear that the craft would land at too high a velocity.
Seeing this in advance, though, ground controllers at the Tsentr upravlyeniya polyotami were able to quickly upload a contingency program to the munokhod so that, if it survived the impact, it would realign itself so that it would be upright, with the wheels taking the bulk of the impact and thus allowing the rover to survive.
And that is what happened. The lander hit the munar regolith at over 30 meters per second. The lander was, of course, in no way designed to survive this impact, the tanks ruptured on impact and the remaining fuel and oxidizer mixed and exploded, throwing the rest of the craft, consisting of the rover and most of the ramp, back up. The contingency program initiated and the gyrodynes reoriented the craft so that when it came back down to the munar surface it landed upright on its wheels, sustaining no additional damage.
The rover was able to disconnect from the ramp and roll towards the base where Cosmonaut Engineer Konstantin Petrovich Kermanov was waiting to inspect it.
It was not broken, but was still wrong.
The original munokhod rover had eight flexible wire mesh wheels that, while light and fast, were not terribly sturdy. They had a tendency to allow the vehicle to slide or drift while traversing the munar regolith.
The new rover had only four wheels but those wheels were larger, heavier, and, though slower, should be able to provide better grip and braking power. The wider wheel base would also make the rover more stable on inclined terrain.
However, when the wheels were fitted onto a chassis essentially identical to the previous rover, the more sturdy suspension was not fully accounted for. The rover had a slightly higher clearance and, because of that, the docking port on the rear of the rover would not line up with the docking ports on the base modules.
“And this is why,” the Chief Designer said, deflecting from the design flaw, “crewed cosmonautics is so vitally important.” Cosmonaut Engineer Konstantin Petrovich was able to torch the docking port off its mountings and weld it back in place in the proper alignment.
