Slide 2:
5° Consider a helicopter in Earth’s gravity. In order to maneuver a helicopter must do two things: 1. Earth’s gravity pulls down with a force of mass times gravity. This must be offset to stay in the air. 2. The helicopter moves forward. Here you can see the net force needed. To deliver that force the helicopter must rotate 5° 2
Slide 3:
28° !!!WE’RE GOING TO TIP OVER!!! Now consider the lunar lander. On the Moon gravity is about 1/6th of that of Earth. So if we translate the same amount on the Moon as we did on Earth the net force and direction are different. The Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) commanders were trained for this but the pilots were not, so during some lunar landings the pilots were… surprised. 3
Slide 4:
28° Our vehicle will be an Earth based simulator of a lunar landing vehicle. It will be used for training and developing concepts for landing on the Moon. A jet engine will rotate so that it will always be pointed down and offset 5/6th of Earth’s gravity. We can then fly the vehicle on Earth as if it were on the Moon. 4
Slide 5:
5° 28° 28° To obtain the same lateral acceleration higher attitude excursions are required in lunar flight.
Our vehicle will allow us to simulate a lunar environment for training on Earth. Summary 5
Comparison of LPSLRV to LLRV :
Thrust Vectored Jet Engine
Helicopter Rotors for Maneuvering
Remote Pilot Control
Digital Control Hydraulically Gimbaled Jet Engine
H2O2 Maneuvering Rockets
Onboard Pilot Control
Analog Computer Gravity Offset
Flight
Pilot
Control System Comparison of LPSLRV to LLRV 6