All language subtitles for Cosmic Front 15of18 The Lunar Rover 720p

The solar system formed
4.6 billion years ago.

How was earth's moon produced?

What is its history?

It was hoped that lunar rocks
would help solve that mystery.

The Apollo 11 mission in 1969

marked the beginning of direct

human exploration on the moon.

During six missions,

382 kilograms of lunar rock were collected.

Transporting all that
from far-flung locations

on the moon's surface
required a lot of power.

Apollo 15 finally developed the answer,

the lunar roving vehicle.

Moving about freely on the moon's surface,

this lunar rover could take
astronauts's farther a field

than they could go on foot.

However, developing the rover
was very much a matter

of trial and error.

The lunar soil would be very
different from earth's.

Engineers had to develop a
vehicle that could operate on

all kinds of terrain.

Weighing just 200 kilograms
but capable of carrying

a 500 kilogram load.

A super car that would be used
to locate and transport rocks

on the surface of the moon.

It was a great vehicle.

They did a wonderful job in building it,

you know, especially for those days.

It's hard to believe now
we're talking how long ago?

40 years, 30 years, what are we talking?

The last flight in the Apollo program

was Apollo 17.

On this mission, NASA finally included

a scientist astronaut.

This was a final chance to investigate

on the moon's surface, a gamble
that they could discover

lunar materials of types
never found before.

They succeeded far beyond
their expectations.

Finding traces of the moon's
dramatically violent past.

This is the story of how the Apollo program

developed a vehicle that could drive around

on the moon collecting rocks and soil

that revealed billions of years of history.

From time in memorial, people have cast

longing glances at the moon.

And wished for a chance to travel there.

The first person to make
that dream come true

was the brilliant rocket
scientist, Wernher von Braun.

He led the Apollo Program
which actually landed

men on the moon.

A decade before the start
of the Apollo Program,

von Braun's conceptualizations
of space development

were carried in a magazine.

At a time when it wasn't
even known if humans

could traverse the distance
to the moon and back,

his blueprints for space development
were bold and detailed.

Each and every conceptual
drawing overflowed

with von Braun's enthusiasm
for space travel.

Exploration on the moon's
surface was also included.

A major role was to be
played by lunar rovers.

They were to function somewhat
like the covered wagons

that blazed trails through
the American West.

Clearly, even before space
travel began in earnest,

a lunar vehicle was
conceived of as essential

to exploration on the moon's surface.

The latter half of the 1950's
saw the start of a space race

between the United States
and the Soviet Union.

These two super powers
staked their prestige

on efforts to launch artificial satellites.

In 1961, the Apollo program was launched

with von Braun playing a central role.

The next year, development
of a lunar vehicle began.

Its construction preceded
in tandem with development

of the Apollo rocket engines themselves.

The best regarded prospect
from that phase of development

has been preserved,

the MOLAB or Mobile
Laboratory built in 1964.

The tires were huge.

The vehicle was nine meters
long and weighed three tons.

The inside was spacious.

The design permitted two astronauts

to live and work there for two weeks.

The steering wheel and foot
pedals were the same size

as in ordinary passenger vehicle.

Development was spear headed
by two representatives

of America's largest auto manufacturer,

Chief Engineer Ferenc Pavlics

and Team Leader Samuel Romano.

Development went smoothly,

but this rover never made
it to the moon's surface.

The problem was that massive body.

NASA realized that they
would need another rocket

just for the rover in addition

to the one carrying the astronauts.

In 1966, the year before the scheduled

first trip to the moon,

development on the lunar
rover was suspended.

It was a setback that the developers

waited for another chance.

Our job is laid out for us,
our test is laid out for us.

But we didn't have any problems,

we didn't think that we couldn't do it.

It was our job to get it
done and we had it done.

In March 1969,

faced with the upcoming
launch of Apollo 11,

the two men went to inspect
the completed lunar module

or landing craft.

They knew that their only
hope of getting a rover

on to the moon would be
abort the lunar module.

But the lunar module had no space to spare

except for one unused
compartment they spotted.

It was a recess just 1.5 meters square

and 0.9 meters deep.

When we first saw this, it's impossible.

We couldn't fit this large
vehicle in that space.

But Pavlics, the engineer did not give up.

He tried to see how compact

he could make the rover.

To carry two astronauts,
it had to be at least

three meters long.

To get around on the moon's
rock terrain surface,

it had to have large tires.

But any way they calculated it,

it was too big to fit on
the lunar landing module.

Was there no way to get it
on to the lunar module?

For three months they
experimented with mock-ups.

Then one day.

It's usually these ideas come
very suddenly, you know.

A eureka!

What was the sudden inspiration?

Pavlics demonstrates
with a one sixth model.

The seats must be folded down.

Then the front chassis which is hinged

is folded over 180 degrees.

Then the same with the
rear chassis is folded up,

then the wheels are folded
in to a 45 degree angle.

And then the complete assembly

fits into that triangular shaped envelope

which is between two legs of
the lunar landing module.

It was ingenious.

A foldable vehicle was a huge step toward

including a rover in the
moon landing mission.

Two weeks before the scheduled
launch of Apollo 11,

the two men took their model to NASA

for a demonstration.

When we went to Huntsville and

the engineering people were very excited

that maybe this could work.

So one of the engineers said

why don't we show it to Dr. von Braun

who was the director of the
Hunstville NASA Organization.

Von Braun had the final say

on lunar rover development.

They had to arouse his
interest and enthusiasm.

Pavlics had an idea how to do that.

So he led the way to von Braun's office,

opened the door, and I guided the vehicle

into his office with radio control

that he couldn't see anybody
but this little vehicle

coming into his office.

And he was on the telephone,

saw this little thing coming then,

and put the telephone down
and say, "What is this?"

And then we walked into the office,

explain to him what the concept is,

demonstrated all the folding up.

Von Braun listened intently.

Then suddenly.

He slammed his hand on a table, he said,

we must do this, we must run
the vehicle on the moon.

And we convinced him, convinced NASA

to go ahead and do it.

And we got a contract to do it.

The lunar rover concept

championed by the two men had
previously been scuttled.

Now, they've been given a second chance.

Two weeks later, Apollo 11 was launched.

The entire world awaited the moon landing

with bated breath.

The rehearsals for the Apollo Program

of putting men on the moon
and bringing them back

were over.

This was the real thing.

Three months later, the lunar rover project

began in earnest.

It had a new and powerful
supporter, Saverio Morea.

Morea was a capable
manager who had overseen

the successful development
of the Apollo Program's

giant rocket engines.

All they do to send out the next model car,

it takes them like four
years before they're happy

with the design and they
can finally put one out

on the street that's different.

We had to produce flight
hardware for astronauts

in a totally unknown
environment in 17 1/2 months.

Starting with Apollo 11,

NASA was planning on about one moon landing

every six months.

Apollo 15 was scheduled to undertake

full scale research on the
moon's surface in 1971,

just two years away.

The lunar rover would
have to be operational

for that mission.

The contract required
development and production

within a mere 18 moths.

This vehicle would be the first
ever to run on a surface

other than planet earth's.

It was a tough schedule but
they started development

by trial and error.

The first requirement was the
capability to roam freely

over the moon's rough terrain.

The lunar rover would be
useless unless it could easily

surmount obstacles as
high as 30 centimeters.

The vehicle utilized technologies that were

still unavailable to vehicles on earth.

It was an electric car whose four wheels

were powered by dedicated motors

drawing on two silver zinc batteries.

The four motors put out a combined total

of one horse power.

That was enough for the moon whose gravity

is only one sixth that of earth's.

Operation was simplified.

The manual controller had steering,

acceleration, and braking functions

all there at the driver's fingertips.

Later, to accommodate the
bulkiness of the astronaut's

space suits, the controller was
reconfigured to a T shape.

So the driver's hand could
rest on it comfortably.

The design goal was operational ease.

Maneuvering the rover was simple,

tilt the controller
forward to start moving.

Tilt right, it turns right.

Tilt left, it turns left.

Pull back to engage the brake.

Push the button and pull
back to put it in reverse.

In test runs, actual astronauts checked out

every feature very carefully.

It functioned superbly.

Everyone agreed development had gone well.

Morea, however, spotted a surprising flaw.

Not so much the vehicle itself

but how the man would
interact with the vehicle

like hours in a one-sixth G environment.

But what would it be like

on the surface of the moon?

No one could predict that.

So they tested the rover's
seats inside a large airplane

which was flown so as to simulate one-sixth

of the earth's gravity.

This is the footage of that experiment.

The astronaut flops about
and can't get seated.

There was no point in having
a rover one could not ride.

But this problem was solved
with a little ingenuity,

a 15 centimeter bolt
protruding from the floor

of the car body.

The astronaut could then hook

his foot briefly under the bolt,

levering himself onto and into the seat.

Problem solved.

That was the big one.

Simple solution but big issue.

This was not simplistic, this
was a space craft on wheels.

April 1970, by now they
had reached Apollo 13.

But the lunar rover had
run into a seemingly

impassable developmental wall.

The problem, the material and
shape of those huge tires.

In the vacuum of space,
pneumatic rubber tires

would blow out, they were
simply not practical.

What's more?

On the moon temperatures in
the sun and in the shade

can vary by as much as 270 degrees Celsius.

The tires had to withstand harsh
environmental conditions.

The terrain scarred from
the impact of countless

small meteorites is uneven,
full of pot holes.

But in some places, the soil is finely

granulated like powder.

The tires would have to do well

on that sort of terrain as well.

They needed something strong,

resistant to temperature fluctuations.

They thought of a material quite unsuitable

for terrestrial tires, metal.

It should be flexible because
it is carrying people,

so the right characteristic had to be such

that cannot be rigid wheel.

So we came up with this idea of making

a flexible wheel making it
out of spring material.

So they created 10 types of metal wheels

or tires and tested each and every type.

It had to be lightweight
and suited to any terrain.

It also had to give a comfortable ride.

This is the one they finally chose.

Metal filaments were woven together

at four millimeter intervals.

This was a wire mesh tire.

This wheel is a very good

simulation of an actual tire.

It yields as you press on it and returns.

And it has enough strength to carry the

load, weight of the vehicle.

So it seems like,

and it can't blow out.

Romano's team had overcome
their greatest obstacle.

Where does a wire mesh
tire get its strength

than versatility?

Kazuya Yoshida, who helped developed

the Japanese asteroid explorer Hayabusa,

ran some tests.

He fabricated two 15 centimeter
diameter wire mesh tires

and attached them to a small testing unit.

A rock was inserted in
the test bed to create

a three centimeter high obstacle.

How will the tires perform?

The test unit easily
negotiates the obstacle.

When tire meets rock,

the tire changes shape
to accommodate the rock.

That suppleness in the wire mesh tire

allowing it to diverse both
rocky ground and softer soil,

is exactly what is needed
on variable terrain

like the moon's.

The rover was now outfitted
with wire mesh tires.

The next step was to
simulate lunar conditions

for full scale testing.

One trick was to have the
rover lifted slightly

by a crane as it ran

so it would be one-sixth of its real weight

as it would be on the moon.

Only after it passed
numerous performance tests

was the lunar rover deemed ready.

Just four months before the
scheduled flight of Apollo 15,

the lunar rover was packed into the side

of the landing module.

And NASA was setting a new plan in motion.

The moon's surface has both dark colored

and light colored areas.

Up to Apollo 14, the moon
landings had all been

on the dark areas.

They are called seas and they are flat.

That made them relatively safe for landing.

But the only kind of rock they could find

in such places was basalt.

There's plenty of that on earth.

So Apollo 15 would approach one
of the light areas instead.

The plan was to set the lunar module down

near the edge of a dark sea

and then have astronauts
set out in the rover

for brighter higher ground.

NASA had not yet obtained any rocks

from the moon's high lands.

July 26th 1971, with the
lunar rover on board

for the very first time, Apollo
15 took off for the moon.

Taking the rover made
this a historic flight,

one that marked the beginning
of true lunar exploration.

Four days later, the Falcon
Lunar Landing Module

set down safely on one of the moon's seas

near a mountain range.

They were about to realize the fruits

of a year and a half of development.

An astronaut held the
rope that would release

the lunar rover from its cargo bay.

Back at admission control,

the two men who had worked so hard

to develop the rover held their breath.

The rope is yanked hard.

And the rover begins to emerge.

All it took was one quick
pull for the rover

to start to deploy.

In just five minutes,
there was the lunar rover

ready to roll.

But then came something unforeseen.

There was no front steering at all.

Oops, yeah, it's an oops.

As a matter of fact,

within minutes, I got a call
from the vice president

from Detroit, General Molters,

that what's going on, can
you fix the problem?

So it was a high visibility
time for operation.

No front steering could have been

a serious setback.

But the rover had a built in
feature that saved the day.

The front and rear wheels
actually operated in tandem,

in a four wheel steering system.

To turn right for example,

the front wheels would point right

and the rear wheels would point left,

all four contributing to the turn.

On Apollo 15, the front
wheels did not steer

when first powered up,
but the independently

powered back wheels still
operated sufficiently

for the vehicle for be maneuvered.

40 minutes later, the rover was declared

ready to explore the moon.

Average speed, 12 kilometers per hour.

The two astronauts riding the rover

were just ecstatic.

Then suddenly, they realized
they could no longer

see the lunar module.

Since the moon is only one
fourth the size of earth,

travelling three kilometers as they had

put them beyond the horizon.

But that was no cause for alarm.

They had built-in technology that gave them

distance and angle to the lunar module.

The first ever lunar car navigation system.

With no fear of getting lost,

they were emboldened to go
even beyond the site lines

to the lunar module.

On the second day of exploration,

they made a great discovery.

It was while the rover was
on route to higher ground.

The two explorers were at
the edge of a vast crater.

It was a white rock which they called

The Genesis Rock.

The high lands were composed
of rock that formed

shortly after the moon itself was born.

Hither to the lunar seas had
yielded only black basalt.

What Apollo 15 retrieved
from the high lands

was a white rock called anorthosite.

This discovery made it possible
to construct a scenario

explaining how the moon
achieved its current shape

and characteristics.

4.6 billion years ago,

the solar system had only just taken shape.

Right after the earth itself was born,

a body the size of Mars collided with it.

This giant impact, as its called,

blew avast cloud of debris out into space.

The fragments were
gravitationally attracted

to each other and fused
in repeated process.

The result was the moon.

As it took final shape, the
moon was covered in magma,

molten rock heated by the energy
from all those collisions.

In time as the moon cooled,

white anorthosite began to
crystallize in the interior.

With a relatively low specific gravity,

the anorthosite gradually
moved to the surface

where it formed the moon's crust.

So at one point, it is thought
the moon was entirely white.

Then however, the solar system was struck

by a vast swarm of meteoroids.

Impacts on the moon created giant carters.

They punctured across through which magma

pushed up from the moon's
core onto the surface.

The magma, now lava, cooled
in the form of black basalt.

This is how the moon's seas were formed.

This account of the formation of the moon

is based on discoveries made possible

by the lunar rover.

In April 1972, Apollo 16 was launched.

On this mission, too, the
rover played a major role.

It scampered easily over
the moon's rough terrain.

And it covered a total of 27 kilometers.

10 times farther than an
astronaut could have walked

in the same time period.

The lunar rover had proved
to be indispensable

to the Apollo Program's
moon based exploration.

Suddenly, it was the last Apollo mission.

NASA hoped for a spectacular new discovery.

The objective was a gorge
cut into steep mountains.

This terrain was far more complicated

than any attempted before.

There was a good chance
some strange new rocks

would be discovered.

And it was their last chance.

So in Apollo 17, NASA sent in a ringer.

For the first time, a scientist was aboard.

A geologist named Harrison Schmitt.

Nowadays, more astronauts than ever before

have professional backgrounds
in science and engineering.

Their expertise is valued

for conducting experiments in space.

But on the Apollo Program,

given the extraordinarily complex
operational requirements,

all the astronauts except for Schmitt

were military pilots.

Schmitt had been fascinated
by space since childhood

but he became a geologist.

His chance to venture into space

came when he was 29 years old.

It was on very short notice.

The NASA and the National
Academy of Sciences

asked for volunteers for scientists

to become astronauts in November of 1964.

And I thought for about
10 seconds and decided

that I would regret not
volunteering and so I volunteered.

Schmitt had never piloted anything

more complex than an automobile.

But NASA drummed new
operational skills into him.

Apollo 17 was the last chance
to discover new moon rocks.

Capitalizing on that
chance was up to Schmitt.

December 7, 1972,

with one lunar rover and
one scientist on board,

this was Apollo's last chance.

Schmitt was given the
responsibility of piloting

the lunar landing module.

Four days later, they had
reached lunar orbit.

The lunar module separated
from the command module

and began its descent to the surface.

Carefully, they descended to a narrow gap

between steep mountain ridges.

In the end, Schmitt and his crew mates

made a successful landing.

They had landed perfectly

in the middle of the valley.

Surrounded by this magnificent scenery,

the normally calm Schmitt could not conceal

his excitement.

Through all those who made it possible.

Really would be
great to go to this valley,

this deep mountain valley.

It's deeper than the Grand
Canyon of the Colorado.

I mean, it was a very deep valley.

It was splitting the ring
of mountains around this

large basin called Serenitatis.

And it had these young volcanics,

it had a lot of very attractive thing.

Schmitt and another astronaut

boarded the rover right away
and set off to investigate.

They traveled west to a
point 3.5 kilometers

from the lunar module.

Right in front of them was a
crater more than 100 meters

in diameter.

Schmitt's instincts as a geologist told him

to focus his attention on this crater.

There, on the generally monotone surface

of the moon undeniably was orange sand.

This was a discovery that contradicted all

the conventional wisdom.

It was so unusual and
so colorful compared to

what you normally see on the moon.

We were certainly excited about it.

And I think Everybody in mission control

was excited about it too
because it was so unexpected.

The geologist and mission control

could not conceal their enthusiasm either.

Until then, there had been no indication

that there had ever been
volcanic activity on the moon.

A close look at the sand reveals

tiny gloves of glass,
0.1 millimeters across.

They called it orange glass.

It was a volcanic deposit of what we call

a pyroclastic deposit.

Certainly, people in Japan
are very familiar with

the volcanoes that erupted and throw glass

and debris around.

Well, this had happened on the moon.

The orange glass was created
3.6 billion years ago.

At the bottom of the crater
made by a meteorite impact,

magma spewed forth from the moon's core.

A fire fountain sprayed droplets of magma

from 400 kilometers below the crust

out into the cold of space
where they instantly cooled

into globules of glass.

Schmitt and his colleagues had discovered

irrefutable evidence of
volcanic activity on the moon.

36 years later, the Japanese unmanned

lunar explorer, Kaguya,
photographed the moon's surface

with a special camera.

It identified more than
40 locations on the moon

where there were sand
with the same composition

as the orange glass.

This confirmed that the moon, like earth,

had seen a great deal of volcanic activity.

Schmitt and his fellow crew members

returned as heroes.

The 11 year Apollo Program
was now at an end.

Thanks to the lunar rover,

great achievements had been
made in lunar exploration.

And there is a little known fact

underlying this grand finale.

We were told later on that

without the rover

NASA or the government would have cancelled

the last three or at least
two Apollo flights.

So it was in a sense the rovers

saved the last three of the Apollo flights

because it was a new element
in the exploration.

The riddle of the moon's origin

was solved by The Genesis
Rock and orange glass.

And it was the lunar rover
that led to these discoveries.

It's been 40 years since the
end of the Apollo Program.

But research is still
being done on the rocks

brought back from the moon.

New facts are even now coming to light.

Alberto Saal is an associate
professor of Geological

Sciences at Brown University in the US.

He's using earth's latest
technology to study

the moon's orange glass.

When the magma spewed out
of those lunar craters,

it instantly formed glass
globules that incorporated

substances from the moon's core.

That makes them time capsules

of the very origin of the moon.

Analysis yielded unanticipated results.

Trapped in the orange
glass were some of the

same gases that exist on earth

such as fluorine and chlorine.

This supported the theory that the moon

came from the earth.

Another completely unanticipated
substance was found.

Water.

This was the first ever proof

that there was water on the moon.

When earth suffered the giant impact

that gave birth to the moon,
the fragments of earth

dislodged into space were heated
to 4,000 degrees Celsius.

It had been thought that all the water

would have evaporated.

But where had the moon's water come from?

Currently, the world's
only isotope microscope

is being used to analyze the moon rocks

to solve that very riddle.

Hisayoshi Yurimoto has
been conducting research

of this sort including analysis of the

Apollo mission's moon rocks.

That includes measurements of deuterium,

a hydrogen isotope.

Amounts differ depending on
the type of space object

in which they are found.

The water in the moon rocks contains

from 0.02 to 0.03% deuterium.

Comparable amounts of deuterium are found

in another well known type
of space object, comets.

In the solar system of
four billion years ago,

there were many more
comets than there are now

passing through.

Yurimoto believes that
the moon was showered

with a huge quantity of
comet ice in that era.

When the comets passed
too close to the sun,

at that time, it recouped some of the water

lost after the event of the giant impact.

Since the Apollo missions,

no one has walked on the moon,

but plans are underway
now for new moonwalks.

In 2009, the US launched the
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

or LRO.

It is parked in lunar orbit 21 kilometers

above the moon from which
it photographs the surface.

This is an effort to compile
detailed information

for the next people who attempt
to conduct investigations

on the moon's surface.

This is one of the images
captured by the LRO.

It's the Apollo 17 lunar landing site.

Those spidery lines marked
where the lunar rover

scatted across the moon's surface.

Their tracks remained even now.

At the end of one of those tracks,

a lunar roving vehicle no longer roving.

The rover was a major
player in moon explorations

of an earlier era.

Now, it sits there patiently

waiting to greet new explorers from earth.