It is often said that if astronauts could not even sit on a Lunar Rover here on Earth because the Rovers were built of such lightweight construction that they "would have collapsed in 1 g if the crew sat on it." (1), and that the " The vehicle could support its own weight on earth, but no more" (2).
Yes those supports are needed under the frame because it is such a delicate little flower that it can't even "hold their weight", yet on the moon those same masses can literally jump onto the rovers and then slam them into bumps all they want without any concerns.
Hi All, my first topical post... Anywho you appear to be talking with total emotional conviction and no subject knowledge whatsoever!
WHO exactly said that the Lunar Rover would have collapsed under 1G? You see it's really no good saying 'oh someone (with obvious and total authority) has said that xxx occurred"... you really do have to say who that 'Someone' is, otherwise you could be quoting your sister's 5 year old son and expect us to go 'oooh!....ahh! an enlightened one!" ( I am of course hypothesising that you do indeed have a sister with a 5 year old son for illustrative purposes only....if not please do not take it to mean that I am saying with any great authority that you
do have a sister with a 5 year old son....just as we will not take it to mean that because you THINK someone said the Lunar Rover would collapse under 1G that that is indeed true!)
The second quote here makes me believe that you appear to think that the LR would suddenly collapse with bits bouncing everywhere to the loud sound of 'BOING!!!!' just like in a Wily Coyote cartoon! Please peruse the attached photograph. Its a NASA photograph of Two Astronauts (Cernan and Schmitt) fully suited and booted and ready to rock and roll, and sat on a Lunar Rover...here on earth under 1 G...please note that there are not bits flying off everywhere, and had this been filmed I very much doubt if the sound 'BOING' would have been heard!
we can see that this is in a NASA clean environment, the Lunar Rover has its Kapton coating and all the bits and bobs it needs on the moons surface, so this is pretty much obviously not a 'test hack' used to hoon around here on earth during training. The chassis of the Lunar Rover itself is certainly strong enough to support weight here on Earth, but it is on stands, so the limiting factor is obviously in the suspension/wheels. Even then had it not been on stands I doubt very much whether it would have collapsed like a delicate little flower!
One of my hobby's is building motorbikes (don't do design just throw off the shelf bits together!) now in my riding kit I weigh over 100Kg (sorry don't do pre-decimalisation) if I were to fit a shock absorber on my bike that had a rating of 50Kg and I suddenly sat on my bike would it collapse like a delicate flower?...no of course it wouldn't.... I may however damage components and I certainly wouldn't be able to ride the bike let alone ride it safely!
So come on Anywho leave the emotion at the doorstep and look at the hard evidence!
(edited: because of spelling and leaving words out..doh! I really should proof read before pressing the 'post' button)
