It was a two-seater electric car powered by two non-rechargeable batteries. The control of the electric vehicle was entrusted to the crew commander.
Advantage
The Lunar Vehicle significantly expanded the area of the lunar surface available to astronauts. Previously, astronauts could only move on the Moon on foot and, therefore, only directly around the landing site due to spacesuits and other life support devices that constrained them. On the Lunokhod, astronauts could move on the Moon at speeds of up to 13 km/h. During the Apollo 16 expedition, a record for the speed of movement on the Moon was set - 18 km/h. The total length of the path traveled by lunar vehicles during the Apollo 15, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 expeditions was 28, 27 and 36 km, respectively.
Design
The lunar vehicle was equipped with four Delco DC electric motors (each wheel of the lunar vehicle was driven by an individual electric motor) with a power of 190 W each at speeds of up to 10 thousand rpm. Torque transmission was carried out through a reduction wave gearbox 80:1, as well as two steering motors (one each for the front and rear wheels). The source of electricity is two non-rechargeable silver-zinc batteries with a voltage of 36 volts and a capacity of 121 Ah each. The design provided for the possibility of powering a communication device or television camera from the batteries of an electric vehicle. The batteries and electronics were equipped with a passive cooling system.
The wheels of the lunar vehicle were developed by General Motors. The wheel design included an aluminum disk and tire with a diameter of 810 mm and a width of 230 mm. The tire was made of braided steel wire (fibers) 0.84 mm thick with a zinc coating. About 50% of the tire area was occupied by a special titanium tread for reliable contact with the ground. Dust shields were located above the wheels.
The lunar vehicle had a mass of 210 kg and a carrying capacity under lunar gravity of 490 kg. The chassis frame, 3 m long with a wheelbase of 2.3 m, was welded from aluminum pipes (aluminum alloy 2219).
The frame consisted of three parts, fastened with hinges, thanks to which it folded and during the flight to the Moon was secured externally, in the compartment of the 3rd landing stage when folded, occupying a volume of 0.85 m 3. The vehicle was lowered to the ground by two astronauts using a block-cable system, the chassis and seats were folded out and fixed.
The highly directional antenna was stored in another compartment. The maximum height of the car was 1.1 m. Ground clearance when fully loaded was 350 mm. The turning radius is about three meters.
The machine was controlled by a T-shaped handle located between the seats:
- pushing the handle forward - moving forward (backward - in reverse mode);
- left-right - turn, respectively, left or right;
- back - braking;
- all the way back - parking brake.
The handle had a travel direction switch (forward/reverse). The instrumentation was mounted on a separate panel and included the following instruments: speedometer, distance indicator, azimuth (course), inclination, indicators of battery power reserve and temperature.
The speed of movement was about 8-10 km/h, although in some areas the lunar mobile could accelerate to 16 km/h and even, setting a record, at 18 km/h, which, however, only created problems, since the gravity on the Moon is 6 times less than that on Earth, and, despite the full load of the lunar all-terrain vehicle, it was noticeably tossed up on uneven ground.
Navigation was provided by a gyrocompass and odometer. In addition, a simple device was mounted on the instrument panel to determine the azimuth of movement along the shadow of the gnomon pin. Considering the extremely low speed of the Sun's movement across the lunar sky, the accuracy of the device was quite satisfactory.
The lunar vehicle was equipped with its own radio and television communication system. There was a highly directional mesh parabolic antenna for direct communication with the Earth, and also an omnidirectional antenna. A color television camera and a 16 mm film camera, as well as a 70 mm photo camera were installed on board. There was also a supply of films in cassettes for them.
Usage
Each lunarmobile was used for three trips - one on each of the three days of the expedition.
The maximum distance of the lunar vehicle from the lunar module was limited by the resources of the astronauts' individual support systems, which should have been sufficient to return to the module on foot in the event of a breakdown of the lunar vehicle. After the lunar vehicles and astronaut suits had demonstrated their reliability, this limitation was relaxed during the last mission (Apollo 17), allowing the maximum distance of 7.6 km from the lunar module.
While operating the LRV on the Moon, astronauts experienced a number of difficulties. So, during the Apollo 16 expedition, during the second landing (location - point No. 8), astronaut Young accidentally touched the dust shield of the lunar vehicle and tore it off. Dust raised by the wheels of the lunar vehicle showered the astronauts, control console and radio communication equipment. The batteries began to heat up, and energy consumption exceeded the standard norm. However, no repairs were made. The same part was torn off during the Apollo 17 expedition (Eugene Cernan hit it with the handle of a geological hammer). The astronauts secured it with adhesive tape, but due to dust the tape did not hold well, and after an hour the shield was completely lost. The Lunomobile again showered itself with dust. It was decided to fix the problem on our own. The astronauts made a dust shield from scrap materials, using maps of the area, adhesive tape and clamps - clamps for lighting fixtures, removed from the lunar module. Maps showing signs of erosion from lunar dust were returned to Earth and are on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
The color television camera installed on the lunar vehicle with a 6x zoom lens was equipped with an electric drive to rotate in horizontal and vertical planes and change the focal length, thanks to which it could be controlled not only by astronauts, but also by an operator from the ground. This significantly expanded the possibilities of video filming and, in particular, made it possible to film the launch of the lunar module from the Moon. For such shooting, the lunar mobile was left in advance in a position at such a distance from the module that the entire module fell into the field of view of its television camera. The operator on Earth, focusing on the television picture from the camera, controlled its drive, accompanying the takeoff of the module. Although the start time was known to the nearest second, due to the noticeably long passage of the signal along the Moon-Earth-Moon chain, the operator had to work with a time advance. Thus, vertical panning had to be started when the module was still standing on the ground in the operator’s TV picture. This made filming difficult, as a result of which the launches of the lunar modules were poorly photographed during the Apollo 15 and Apollo 16 expeditions. However, during the Apollo 17 expedition, the launch of the lunar module was successfully filmed
17
On November 1970, the Soviet Lunokhod was delivered to the Moon.
Scientists argued vigorously about what the soil of the Moon was. The design of the Lunokhod itself depended on this, and engineers were waiting for the dispute to be resolved. A very popular hypothesis was that the Moon was covered with a thick layer of dust...
To test the device, it was proposed to build a giant hangar with an area of several thousand square meters, strewn with a 5-meter layer of unhulled millet (which is very slippery and was supposed to become an analogue of “moon dust”).
This would have delayed the launch for many months. The problem was resolved by Sergei Korolev, who, by his internal order, ordered that the lunar soil be considered solid and dust-free. You can say - I was not mistaken)))
They decided to make the Lunokhod chassis (just in case) caterpillar. This was done by VNII-100 (later VNII TransMash), which specialized in the manufacture of tank chassis - the project was led by Alexander Leonovich Kemurdzhian. The “Korolevsky” (as it was later called) lunar rover resembled in its appearance a shiny metal turtle on tracks - with a “shell” in the form of a hemisphere and straight metal fields below, like the rings of Saturn. Looking at this lunar rover, it becomes a little sad that it was not destined to fulfill its purpose. 3 World-famous lunar rover Babakin In 1965, due to the extreme workload of the manned lunar program, Sergei Pavlovich transferred the automatic lunar program to Georgy Nikolaevich Babakin at the design bureau of the Khimki Machine-Building Plant named after S.A. Lavochkina. Korolev made this decision with a heavy heart.
In 1966, the automatic interplanetary station Luna 9 made a soft landing on Selena, and Soviet scientists finally received an accurate picture of the surface of the Earth’s natural satellite.
But the first lunar rover launched unsuccessfully and exploded. On February 19, 1969, the Proton launch vehicle, which is still used to obtain the first cosmic speed necessary to enter orbit, was launched to send an interplanetary station into outer space. But during acceleration, the head fairing that covered the lunar rover began to collapse under the influence of friction and high temperatures - debris fell into the fuel tank, which led to an explosion and the complete destruction of the unique rover. This project was called "Lunokhod-0".
After this, adjustments were made to the lunar rover design, the chassis was changed, and the entire appearance underwent significant changes. Babakin's Lunokhod met with rave reviews from all over the world - both among scientists and ordinary people. Hardly any media in the world has ignored this brilliant invention. It seems that even now - in a photograph from a Soviet magazine - the lunar rover stands before our eyes, like a smart robot in the form of a large pan on wheels with many intricate antennas.
On November 17, 1970, the Lunokhod was successfully delivered to the Moon. In size, the famous lunar rover is comparable to a modern passenger car, but this is where the similarities end and the differences begin. The lunar rover has eight wheels, and each of them has its own drive, which provided the device with all-terrain qualities. The Lunokhod could move forward and backward at two speeds and make turns in place and while moving. The instrument compartment (in the “pan”) housed the equipment of the on-board systems. The solar panel opened up like a piano lid during the day and closed at night. It provided recharging for all systems. A radioisotope heat source (using radioactive decay) heated the equipment in the dark, when the temperature dropped from +120 degrees to -170. By the way, 1 lunar day is equal to 24 earthly days. The Lunokhod was intended to study the chemical composition and properties of lunar soil, as well as radioactive and X-ray cosmic radiation. The device was equipped with two television cameras (one backup), four telephotometers, X-ray and radiation measuring instruments, a highly directional antenna (discussed later) and other cunning equipment.
There were no people there and the lunar machine had to be controlled from Earth. The crews changed each other. Each one consisted of five people: commander, driver, flight engineer, navigator and highly directional antenna operator. The latter needed to ensure that the antenna always “looked” at the Earth, providing radio communication with the lunar rover. Between the Earth and the Moon there are approximately 400,000 km and the radio signal, with which it was possible to correct the movement of the device, traveled this distance in 1.5 seconds, and the picture from the Moon was formed - depending on the landscape - from 3 to 20 seconds. So it turned out that while the image was being formed, the lunar rover continued to move, and after the image appeared, the crew could detect their vehicle already in the crater. Due to the great tension, the crews replaced each other every two hours.
Thus, Lunokhod-1, designed for 3 earthly months of operation, worked on the Moon for 301 days. During this time, he traveled 10,540 meters, examined 80,000 square meters, transmitted many photographs and panoramas, and so on. As a result, the radioisotope heat source exhausted its resource and the lunar rover “froze.” Perhaps in the future he will be revived. And he will find a place in the museum...
If we assume that we have no brothers in mind, this transport can be considered the most reliable in the entire Universe. The Americans don't count: they repaired their Lunar Rover twice right on the Moon. Our “Lunokhod”, if it had broken down during the “flight”, there would have been no one to repair it - the crew was 400 thousand kilometers away from it...
Drone chassis
In the exploration of other planets, we, as has happened more than once, also went our own way. Instead of a human, the USSR decided to send a robotic explorer to a neighboring planet.
In order for him to be able to do everything that a living astronaut could do, he needed a vehicle. The key problem was the chassis, and the military research institute from Leningrad, which designed the chassis, was assigned to solve it. Military designers settled on the good old wheel, rejecting the caterpillar track, walking, jumping, rolling... There were several defining requirements for the Lunokhod chassis.
First of all, the propulsion device must be so universal that it minimizes the likelihood of “landing” the rover - there will be no one to push it! And, as life will show, space robots have problems with “swinging.” In addition, the tread profile was supposed to prevent the vehicle from sliding sideways when driving on slopes. Secondly, reliability is important, and what could be simpler than a wheel? Here, by the way, thirdly, due to its simplicity, the wheel as such is an extremely light unit. Finally, it is one of the most efficient propulsion systems and requires the least energy consumption. The use of a chassis with wheels makes it possible to vary their number, and in addition to reducing pressure on the ground, it is also an opportunity to increase the survivability of the vehicle - by eliminating failed wheels from the game.
The wheel is reinvented
True, the wheel had to be significantly modified, primarily because at the end of the 1960s people knew very roughly what lunar soil was. The combination of stones of all calibers with loose rocks of unpredictable density required a wheel with contradictory properties. And the military did this. Three thin titanium rims rolled easily on a hard surface, the mesh stretched between them came into action on loose soil when the rims began to fail. Angle lugs welded on top of everything helped to rake on a loose surface under load. As it turned out later, they were in demand more often than we would like. Light spokes instead of discs provided the necessary strength and elasticity in case of hard contact of the wheel with stones.
The final version of the wheels was born as a result of calculations and numerous tests. The prototypes were rolled at three training grounds with different types of soil and even in the compartment of an airplane simulating lunar gravity, which is 1/6 of Earth’s. For example, it took a lot of time to select the size of the mesh cell stretched over the rim.
A DC electric motor with a gearbox and a squib was built into the thin wheel hub. The latter was undermined remotely in the event of an emergency jamming of the drive, and the wheel, thus disconnected from the gearbox axis, turned from a driver into a driven one, that is, it simply rolled along the surface. In this way, it was possible to “repair” the drive of five wheels out of eight available without direct human intervention, and the device could continue performing the task with the three remaining drive wheels!
Nerves 400 thousand km long
The most difficult point in the USSR lunar project was the control of the Lunokhod. It was remote, and it was difficult to find a more remote one: the distance from the Sea of Rains on the Moon, where our space robot landed, to the Center for Deep Space Communications in Crimea, where its crew was located, exceeded 400,000 kilometers.
The command radio signal covered this path in 2.5 seconds, that is, with such a delay the device responded to the driver’s commands. But that wasn't the main problem. The main difficulty was the speed of updating the image on the monitor in front of the operator. The transmission of images from the Lunokhod cameras to Earth was only called television; in fact, the driver saw in front of him, to put it mildly, a slide show: the frame changed not 25 times per second, but once every 3–20 seconds (depending on the terrain )! There is nothing to be done - communication channels and computing machines of that time could not provide faster data transfer. Thus, after detecting an obstacle, the car continued to move for at least 8 seconds! That is why drivers never drove faster than 2 km/h.
The problem was aggravated by the peculiarities of lunar lighting - so sharp and contrasting that the traffic situation “behind the windshield” looked to the operator as a set of black and white spots. On some days, when the sun was at its zenith, it was impossible to “travel” at all. Therefore, to help the driver’s eyes, the device sent him data from additional sensors: roll, trim, load and wheel slip. Analyzing them, the crew quickly understood what was happening to their car: it tilted over a rocky ridge, descended into a crater, climbed out of it with 90 percent slipping... The crew’s work was so intense that he couldn’t stand it for more than two hours “behind the wheel.” .
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What is inside?
By the way, about the crew. It consisted of five people. In addition to the driver, who sat on the levers (he turned the Lunokhod like a tank, with the wheels braking), there were also a navigator, a flight engineer, a highly directional antenna operator, and a crew commander. Be that as it may, even under other favorable conditions, all these people could not fit in their car, since its rounded body (max. diameter 2,150 mm) is completely occupied by scientific equipment and systems responsible for the operation of the chassis. The rover's propulsion motors were powered by silver-cadmium batteries, which were charged by solar panels placed on the top hinged cover. At night (one lunar night, like a lunar day, lasts almost 14 Earth days), the lid was closed to conserve heat in the body, and the device froze during this time in “anabiosis.” The reason is not the lack of powerful headlights, but the lack of ability to recharge batteries without the sun.
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One of the key systems of the Lunokhod was the climate control system, which provided the desired temperature in a sealed housing at an outside temperature of –150 °C at night and +150 °C during the day. The heat source was a capsule containing the radioisotope Polonium-210, and excess heat was removed through the roof of the housing, which was a radiator. The coolant gas circulated inside the housing through two circuits, the second being allocated for equipment with a particularly strict thermal regime. The efficiency of the climate control of that time was so high that it made it possible not to worry about the safety of the equipment when the temperature difference between the left and right sides of the device was 100 degrees!
Warranty
A total of four copies of the Lunokhod were produced, not counting the experimental versions and training copies. The very first “combat” prototype, which was later given the name “Lunokhod-0,” did not make it into space due to a rocket accident at launch. The second vehicle, named Lunokhod-1, traveled 10,540 meters on the Moon, completing many scientific tasks. The manufacturer - the defense enterprise Machine-Building Plant named after S. A. Lavochkin - guaranteed three months of uninterrupted operation of its brainchild, but Lunokhod-1 worked for almost a year, from November 17, 1970 to September 15, 1971. Operation had to be stopped after that. how the isotope heat source exhausted its resource and the “filling” of the eight-wheeled robot finally froze on a cold lunar 150-degree night...
October 15th, 2015
“Little Tank”, “Lunokhod”, “Jerboa” - all sorts of nicknames were given to the legendary Soviet SUV LuAZ-969 “Volyn”. Its incredible cross-country ability was recognized even outside the country, which is not so typical for cars originally from the USSR. At the International Motor Show in Turin, LuAZ-969M entered the top ten best SUVs in Europe.
Having evolved from a simple motorized cart for collecting the wounded on the battlefield to an all-terrain vehicle that is indispensable in rural conditions, this small jeep of a bizarre shape has managed to gain both loyal fans and those who cannot stand it, but it has left few people indifferent.
Let's remember about it in more detail...
LuAZ-969 is known for its absolutely unsurpassed cross-country ability and equally unsurpassed sparse interior. And this is not surprising, because the original purpose of this car was 100% military.
Lutsk is located in Western Ukraine. This is the administrative center of the Volyn region, and it is a small city with a lot of history. The same can be said about the Lutsk Automobile Plant - it never laid claim to any large-scale production, but it left a noticeable mark on history. It all started almost by accident - in the 1950s, repair shops were transformed first into an automobile repair plant, then into a machine-building plant. The plant made agricultural equipment and trailers, and repaired trucks. And everything would have continued like this if not for...
In the early 1950s, during the Korean War, the Lutsk Automobile Plant, commissioned by the Ministry of Defense, developed a front-line transporter - TPK. It was a motorized all-terrain trolley no more than half a meter in height, with all-wheel drive and a winch, which was supposed to be parachuted from an airplane. But perhaps the main feature was its ability to move on water.
Boris Moiseevich Fitterman and Yuri Aronovich Dolmatovsky were at the forefront of the automotive industry. They initiated a thoughtful study of foreign experience, including living analogues. It was on the basis of these studies that Fitterman, by the way, wrote the famous (scarce both then and now) book about small cars.
The institute focused its main efforts on creating a people's car, which at that time everyone was literally raving about. As a result, the serial Serpukhov sidecar S-3A and “Zaporozhets” were born. Well, an all-wheel drive car became a logical branch from the main direction. After all, an inexpensive off-road vehicle was needed by a huge number of potential buyers who had only seen Moscow avenues in the News of the Day film magazine. And after the Korean War, the army leadership puzzled the automakers with a compact all-wheel drive vehicle with the most simplified body possible.
On the approaches to creating one, a series of NAMI-032 prototypes appeared. At the same time, they created a small, more comfortable station wagon NAMI-049. The car, with a simple shape, designed to be manufactured without complex stamps, but still with a closed body, was called “Ogonyok” and was planned to be produced together with the NAMI-050 “Belka” at the Irbit Motorcycle Plant.
Despite its external simplicity, the car had completely independent torsion bar suspensions and plug-in rear wheels. The main drive is front-wheel drive. Wheel gearboxes (to this day one of the favorite topics of debate among their ardent opponents and fans) not only increased torque, but also increased ground clearance.
The example of the Austrian Steyr-Puch Haflinger had a huge influence on NAMI designers. A compact car with a simple body and a two-cylinder engine has been produced since 1959. By the way, Soviet prototypes also had motorcycle engines with a power of 17.5 and 23 hp.
Of course, the creators of the car understood: modest two-stroke motorcycles are not suitable for the transporter either in terms of power, traction, or service life. But a completely modern V4 unit was already on the way, which they planned to install on a small car in Zaporozhye at the Kommunar plant. Now work on the SUV was carried out jointly with its specialists - engineers who came to Ukraine from other Soviet factories.
The car, which had already received the ZAZ-969 index, was gradually brought to mind. The body mounted on the frame changed a couple more times, but was still as simple as possible. Instead of a hard roof, they still made an awning. Engine - ZAZ965. There was no reduction row in the transfer case. Instead, based on the four-speed “Zaporozhye” box, they made a unit with an additional low gear with a number of 7.20!
In addition, the SUV had a forced locking rear differential. The interaxial locking, which was tried on NAMI prototypes, was abandoned in the name of simplifying the design. But even without it, the car’s cross-country ability was really good.
There was not enough capacity at the Zaporozhye Automobile Plant, and then they decided to expand production at the Lutsk Machine-Building Plant, where, in particular, they made trailers and refrigerated vans on truck chassis.
The first civilian models can be called a rural jeep without a stretch - they had to forget about moving on water, the driver and passengers were placed as in a regular car, and attached canvas sides were added to the canvas top. LuAZ-969V became the first production car with front axle drive.
The letter “B” in the name just denoted a front-wheel drive modification. The fact is that before the start of mass production, the model did not have time to be equipped with a rear axle gearbox, which is why it went into production with front-wheel drive. This story continued until the early 1970s, when LuAZ finally acquired all-wheel drive.
How did it all go? To be honest, it’s difficult. In order not to be unfounded, we will quote from the “test drive” of those times. This is how tester Vadim Aleksandrovich Kotlyarov wrote about his journey in this car from Lutsk to Tolyatti in the book “Oh, Roads”*: “The engine is quite frail, 40-horsepower. Therefore, the designers were forced to shamelessly raise the transmission gear ratios so that the car could somehow move. The first gear reminded me... of a tank (I’m a tank driver after all!). The engine roars, the car barely crawls. I turn on the second one - everything is almost the same. Only in the last, fourth gear does something like driving happen. Then it turned out that you can even get moving on it without much difficulty - of course, on level ground or on a descent. ... Driving the Volyn along the highway over long distances is not for the faint of heart. Whether uphill or downhill, it’s impossible to exceed 60 km/h. There is only one salvation - non-stop measured driving. Then you gradually get into a rhythm, stopping only to refuel.”
It’s true that LuAZ can beat anyone off-road, be it a Niva or a Hummer. The engine, gearbox, final drive and driveshaft are compactly located in a body with an integrated side member frame, and all components are actually located in a single sealed housing. The independent torsion bar suspension on the trailing arms front and rear has enormous travel, and the 13-inch tires have very powerful lugs. Without exaggeration, this is “a small tank with a Zaporozhets engine.”
Nevertheless, the car had enough problems. The Zaporozhets engine simultaneously gave advantages, being in the front, and was a kind of scourge due to its low power. They tried to modernize the car first in 1975, when a 40-horsepower engine appeared in Volyn (the model became known as LuAZ-969A), and then in 1979, when locks appeared on the doors (attention!) and seats in the cabin. from the Zhiguli, the outside of the body has become less angular. Model 969M began to look different.
During the Soviet years, they tried to improve the car several times, and it cannot be said that it was unsuccessful. In 1975, Volyn was equipped with an engine that had evolved to 40 hp. "Zaporozhye" motor MeMZ-969A. The modification was named logically - LuAZ-969A, and four years later, in 1979, the LuAZ-969M, that is, “modernized”, was launched into the series. Two separate brake circuits with a booster on the front, a refreshed front panel, a different shape of the windshield, doors with locks (yes, there were no locks before!) and window frames, a plastic instrument panel, a safety steering column, Zhiguli seats...
The front part of the body was made less angular, and the car immediately began to look different. It’s hard to believe, but a small car from a small Soviet town achieved international recognition: even before the start of serial production, in 1978, at the International Motor Show in Turin, the LuAZ-969M entered the top ten best SUVs in Europe! Of course, the SUV market, like the car market in general, was somewhat different in those days, but still.
In the nineties
The change in indices that took place in the USSR to designate models turned the LuAZ-969M into the LuAZ-1302. True, the indices changed in 1985, and the first cars from Lutsk with the new designation appeared, according to most sources, only in 1990. And it was already a much different, more “adult” car. Mainly because of the engine - the Zaporozhets legacy was eliminated with the help of... Tavria!
Yes, ZAZ once again came to the aid of colleagues from Lutsk, and the SUV finally received a normal liquid-cooled engine with 4 cylinders and 53 hp. All this guaranteed adequate acceleration dynamics, and most importantly, efficiency. The 969M “according to its passport” consumed 10 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers, but this is if you drive at a speed of 60 km/h, and at high speeds it devoured the 34-liter tank much more intensively. The new “Volyn” spent only 7.7 liters and at the same time could move faster - the maximum speed increased from 85 to 100 km/h.
On August 24, 1991, about a year after the start of production of the LuAZ-1302, Ukraine seceded from the USSR and became an independent state. LuAZ's contacts with Russia ceased. LuAZ-1302, in addition to the engine, borrowed seats from Tavria (VAZ ones, for example from the VAZ-2108, and there was nowhere to take them from), and also received reinforced side members and additional noise and vibration insulation. The car turned out to be quite good - faster, quieter and more economical than its predecessor. But for Russian fans of the brand such cars were no longer available.
Name phenomenon
It’s funny, but in free sources it is not possible to find the exact date when this model received its proper name - “Volyn”. And this is understandable - in the USSR, names were given to cars haphazardly, almost by accident, and the closer to the collapse of the Union, the less frequently they were given.
In the USSR, a car in the USSR needed a beautiful name precisely for beauty, because the goal was not to lure buyers away from competitors. Be that as it may, the name “Volyn” in various sources is applied both to the first version of the SUV, LuAZ-969, launched in 1967, and to later samples of this model, LuAZ-969M, produced from 1979 to 1990 . However, people, imbued with this car, gave birth to their own versions of the name:
- “Bagpipes” is not only a derivative of the name, but also a hint of the “noble” sound of the Melitopol engine;
- "BMW" - stands for "Fighting Machine of Volyn";
- “Lunokhod” - for wheel gears and unique appearance;
- “Luntik” - short for “lunar rover”, appeared in the 2000s;
- “Lumumzik” - from LuMZ, an early designation for the LuAZ plant, when it was still a machine-building plant, not an automobile plant;
- "Louise" is a derivative of LuAZ;
- “Jerboa” - for the ability to “jump” on any surface;
- "Studebaker" - for gluttony;
- "Hammer" - for cross-country ability;
- "Cheburashka" - for large headlights;
- “Iron” - for the shape of the body;
- "Fantômas" - for his comedic and villainous appearance;
- “Jewish armored car” - for a combination of qualities obtained for little money.
In addition, the car is called “Losharik”, “Chapik” and “Piano” O_o. Perhaps LuAZ can be called the owner of the largest number of nicknames among the cars of the former USSR. Agree, the dull “Volyn” does not look very good against the backdrop of this fair of folk art achievements.
Modifications
As we know, the TPK, from which Volyn was born, had several varieties, for example, three-axle vehicles. Of course, Volyn itself had a lot of options. It is characteristic that the vast majority of them were created already in the post-Soviet period on the basis of the 1302 model - the plant simultaneously tried to fit into the laws of the market economy and keep up with fulfilling government orders. There are known modifications with a body with an extended wheelbase, a hard top, an extended rear overhang and four doors (one on the left, two on the right and the rear), as well as special versions - “Foros”, which had a “Jeeper” design, and a unique six-wheeled floating “Geologist” .
These vehicles, bearing the “birthmark” of the frontline army transporter, easily passed where heavier GAZs, UAZs and even Nivas passed, in hard-to-reach areas, seriously facilitating the work of repair teams, geologists and doctors... Unfortunately, now all these cars are already a thing of the past, although off-road conditions in the territory of the former Soviet Union have not become noticeably less.
Attempts to continue
Why did the Volyn with a Tavria engine carry the index 1302, since the first model according to the new classification had to start with “zero one”? But because index 1301 has been occupied by a completely different car since 1984... Unfortunately, LuAZ did not avoid the main problem characteristic of the entire Soviet automobile industry - inertia.
The slow pace of “upgrade” largely spoiled the fate of “Volyn”. For example, according to some sources, the first copies of an improved version of the model, 969M, completely ready for production, appeared in 1973, and these machines only went on the assembly line in ’79! However, engineers tried their best to turn the situation around.
In 1984, a car was developed in Lutsk that had the same platform, but with a completely new body made of plastic - it was this model that was supposed to receive the index 1301. Over the course of ten years, due to the impossibility of starting production, the car was modified (you can find references to four prototypes , built in different years, plus a modification for the “Ambulance”) and improved, and in the late nineties it “surfaced” again in the press, a date was even set for the start of production (2003), a competition was announced for the best name, but - alas...
A similar constructive scenario was followed by an initiative group of developers from the Leningrad laboratory for prototyping advanced vehicles NAMI - in 1988-89, while the Russian institute still maintained ties with the Ukrainian plant, they created an alternative version of the LuAZ-1301, also with a plastic, but more stylish and progressive body . The car with a six-speed gearbox, an engine from Tavria, an original transmission design with a plug-in front end, an “integral” hood that folds down along with the wings, and an attractive appearance even by today’s times was called “LuAZ-Proto”. Yes, it remained a prototype.
End of story
So, attempts to launch a new model and stay afloat in a sea of capital failed. At the turn of 1990-2000, LuAZ was engaged in contract assembly of VAZ and UAZ cars, and in 2006 came under the wing of the Bogdan corporation, changed its name to “Auto Assembly Plant No. 1”, stopped car production, finally curtailed its own developments and switched to bus assembly . And a few years later, the Bogdan corporation itself, which had several assembly plants, under the influence of the economic crisis and the difficult political situation in Ukraine, found itself in an extremely difficult situation - production stopped at all enterprises. At the end of 2014, the entire Ukrainian automobile industry, of which the Bogdan corporation was a part, had virtually ceased to function.
We now have our own transport on the Moon...From the speech of Comrade L.I. Brezhnev. In Yerevan, at the celebrations on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Armenian SSR in November 1970, the automatic station “Luna-17” delivered a self-propelled vehicle to the surface of the eternal satellite of our planet. For the first time in the history of astronautics, Lunokhod-1, controlled from the Earth, equipped with a laser device, sophisticated control systems and scientific equipment, set off on a journey across the surface of the “silver ball”. With this unprecedented space experiment, Soviet scientists opened a new page in the study of celestial bodies with automatic devices. Scientific observer N. Alexandrov talks about how the first acosmic chariot in the history of the Earth was constructed (its chassis) and how it worked on the Moon. Question. Lunokhod 1 resembles a complex biological system. This “octopus” confidently moves across the surface of the Moon. Television eyes and radio ears provide him with spatial orientation and communication with the outside world. The “nervous system” and the “brain” are the most complex logical electronic devices. In a word - a unique “organism”. I would like to tell the readers of the magazine in more detail about its structure. Answer. Let's start getting acquainted with Lunokhod-1 with the chassis. Its basis is an eight-wheel chassis. But the designers did not immediately give preference to wheels. They also considered the feasibility of using tracked, walking, and even jumping propulsion systems under lunar conditions. Extensive theoretical research and numerous experiments have revealed the advantages of the wheeled chassis system. It turned out to be the most suitable for moving the vehicle on lunar soil in conditions of gravity six times less than on Earth. The wheels of Lunokhod-1 are also unlike the usual automobile ones. Thanks to the spokes, which provide light weight and significant strength, they are akin to motorcycle spokes. Instead of rubber tires and a rim, there is a frame covered with a metal mesh on which lugs are attached. They resemble the spurs of the pre-war “Krasny Put.ilovets” wheeled tractors. An electric motor, a drive to it and a transmission, a shutdown mechanism, and sensors for devices that measure the distance traveled, as well as temperature and load, are built into the massive wheel hub. This entire complex complex is carefully isolated from the environment with a special seal. All eight wheels are driven. This means that if one or even several wheels fail, the lunar rover will not lose mobility. Thanks to the independent elastic suspension of the wheels, it can overcome various obstacles - large stones, ledges and cracks. O^LECTRO MOBILE b NALUNEN In the pictures: and testing of the Lunokhod-1 undercarriage at the Lunodrome (above); in the assembly and testing building during the assembly of Lunokhod-1. Photo by TASS The Lunokhod propulsion system is designed in such a way that it provides high maneuverability. If any wheel gets stuck in a crack or between rocks, the sensors and transmission system will immediately notify the Earth about this. Upon command from the Control Center, it can be disconnected from the drive. A stuck roller will stop slowing down the rotation of other wheels, which will allow the machine to cope with the obstacle and continue moving. To prevent the lunar rover from capsizing when driving on slopes or with a large roll, the trim (tilt forward - backward) and roll (tilt to the side) sensors, when the maximum angles are reached, will send a command to the machine, and it will immediately stop the vehicle. In addition, the on-board automation system includes devices that monitor the load on the drive wheels. This is necessary in order to prevent engine failure. The machine stops the lunar rover when the maximum load is reached. The rotation of the lunar rover is carried out due to the difference in the speed of the propellers of one side relative to the other. This principle, used in particular on tanks, made it possible to create a very maneuverable vehicle. Lunokhod-1 can not only make smooth turns, but also turn around on the spot. The need to make the chassis as light as possible and increase its carrying capacity posed a very difficult engineering task for the creators of Lunokhod-1. In some cases, it was necessary to develop special structural materials that were especially light and high-strength and at the same time quite resistant in conditions of vacuum and cosmic radiation. Particular care had to be taken into account the influence of these conditions when designing friction units. The equipment, which is very important for driving the lunar rover, is placed in a hermetically sealed container. Motorists would call it a body. There are the bulk of instruments that receive commands from the Earth, control the movement of the device, its thermal control system and transmit information to the Control Center. The devices included in the complex of on-board television equipment are very important and interesting. Six panoramic and directional television cameras allow you to view the terrain in front, along the direction of travel and behind, capturing part of the celestial sphere. They transmit television images of the lunar landscape, which are perceived by the driver as if he were sitting behind the wheel of a car. Question. Tell us about the power source of Lunokhod 1, which is essentially an electric vehicle. After all, for many years designers have been striving to create an earthly electric car. It turns out somehow strange: we can deliver an electric car to the Moon, but we don’t have one on Earth. Answer. Absolutely right. The moon is lucky in this regard. Solar radiation is used to charge the batteries of the lunar electric vehicle. On the Moon, unlike the Earth, the flow of solar rays is not weakened by the atmosphere. It carries energy equal to 1.4 kilowatts per square meter of illuminated surface. Therefore, the lunar rover is equipped with a complex consisting of a solar battery and a battery, which have proven to be a reliable power plant for devices operating for a long time in space or on other celestial bodies. In principle, such a complex could be used on cars. However, on Earth there are too many obstacles to this: after all, it is not always possible to “catch” the sun’s ray (what to do at night, in inclement weather?). In addition, the installation itself will be too expensive. Question. We know that the rover moved very slowly on the surface of the Moon. But he had first and second gears. In the beginning, as is known, first gear was used. After the crew received sufficient training, more and more often they began to include the second one. True, the lunar vehicle does not need high speed yet. But in the future, it is likely that the speed of movement on the Moon will increase more and more. I wonder to what extent it can be increased. Answer. In this experiment, high speed is not needed. In general, according to some experts. 20 km/h limit. This is explained by the fact that the force of gravity on the Moon is six times less than on Earth, while the mass of bodies, and therefore their inertia, retains its Earthly magnitude. This difference in weight and mass has a very significant impact on the nature of the movement of the lunar apparatus. With all changes in its position, it becomes less stable. It is believed that even at a speed of slightly more than 10 km/h, the lunar car will roll over when hitting even the smallest obstacle, since its weight is small and its mass (and inertia) is large. At a speed of 20 km/h, any car on the Moon becomes very unstable. Question. The Lunokhod-1 crew consisted of five people: commander, driver, flight engineer, navigator and operator. What were the specific functions of each of them! How they drove the car and what were the features of driving it! Answer. The car and its “driver” are separated by almost 400 thousand kilometers. The “Lunar Driver” had to take into account many unusual conditions. Thus, a person is accustomed to the fact that his vision has a viewing angle of almost 180 degrees. The television image transmitted to Earth corresponds to a much smaller viewing sector. We must also take into account the inevitable “blind spot”. In addition, the Moon has no atmosphere, and this greatly complicates the normal perception of the depth of space. The landscape on the TV screen appears flat. The lack of stereoscopicity makes it difficult to determine not only the distances to individual objects, but also their sizes. It’s not easy to choose exactly the moment when you need to start this or that maneuver, or change the speed, because from the moment the command is given, the passage of the signal in both directions takes almost 3 whole seconds. Watching the track on the TV screen, crew members must be able to decipher what they see, determine what kind of obstacles are in front of the car, evaluate their sizes, the distance to them. It is especially difficult to recognize cracks and different holes. In short, driving a lunar rover from Earth is a completely new profession. And now briefly about the duties of crew members. To determine the location of the Lunokhod and plot its route, the navigator uses readings from navigation instruments, a distance sensor, a large-scale map and a television image. The operator makes sure that the highly directional television antenna of the lunar rover always looks at the Earth, so that the radio signals sent from its board have maximum power when received by a ground station. Together with the driver, he carefully monitors the “road” and adjusts the position of the antenna. The flight engineer monitors the operation of all systems. The commander, having received the navigator’s information about the course, the flight engineer’s reports on the operation of the vehicle’s systems, and the operator’s on the position of the antenna, evaluates this information and makes a decision on the further movement of the “moon chariot.” The driver's task is to strictly adhere to the driving schedule. It would seem like an easy task. But let’s imagine ourselves at the control panel of Lunokhod 1. In front of us is a television screen. An obstacle that appears in the path of the vehicle will appear on it in approximately 1.5 seconds. It takes at least two seconds to assess the situation and make a decision. Decision is made! The driver gives the command! The corresponding signal will reach the lunar rover in 1.5 seconds. Perceiving it and turning off the electric motors will take at least a second. So, it took about 6 seconds from the moment the obstacle was detected until the car stopped. Thus, in order to control the lunar rover well—not to drive it into a deep crater or stumble upon a large rock—the driver is first required to have a sense of foresight. He must, as it were, get ahead of events. And this requires completely new reflex connections and skills. Therefore, all members of the Lunokhod-1 crew, before sitting down at the controls, underwent extensive training in controlling analogues of the Lunokhod on Earth, simulating natural conditions. Working with a machine located on the Moon, for the fate of which they feel fully responsible, certainly requires enormous stress. The Soviet “lunar drivers” successfully completed their baptism of fire. This unprecedented experiment, during which an unprecedented method of interaction between an automaton on the Moon and a crew on Earth was first tested, will go down in the history of astronautics as one of the most daring and very promising innovative solutions ever undertaken during the entire era of human intervention in space.