Team Solid-state

[TheBigDog]

Even if the gaps were to fill with dust it is so fine that on a macro level it would provide almost no friction. On a micro level it is abrasive, but mostly because it gets into seals that are intended to be... sealed.

 

I love this idea, Gahd. Next step technical drawings?

 

Bill

[GAHD]

well so-far I've got that basic outline and layout detailed up above, "N" indicating a "north/positive" section, "S" indicating a South/negative section. The actual field gradient created by these would be a factor of the two butting ends of magnets (they're all aligned North-north, south-south) As well as the diamagnetic self-aligning should reinforce the field they create.

 

The diamagnetic casing of the wheel itself should repel ANY ambient magnetic fields(that's what it does) so ASSumption moon dust would repel from it.

 

Next step would be to calculate the gauss required to keep a stable levitation?

[DougF]

I found this handbook on line in PDF format it has quite a bit of information that we may be able to use, such as procedures, Electrical Power Subsystem and things we have yet talked about.

 

Lunar Rover Operations Handbook

Doc. LS006-002-2H

Prepared by the Boeing Company

LRV Systems Engineering

Huntsville' date=' Alabama

April 19, 1971

Scanning and PDF formatting by Ron Wells.

Last revised 2 November 2005.[/quote']

 

Lunar Rover Operations Handbook

 

also this may give you a good look at a smaller rover design.

 

Lunar Rover Initiative | Field Robotics Center

Robotics Institute: Lunar Rover Navigation

[Roadam]

The diamagnetic casing of the wheel itself should repel ANY ambient magnetic fields(that's what it does) so ASSumption moon dust would repel from it.

If I am getting this right diamagnetic material repels from magnetic fields. So moondust wouldnt repel becouse it is feromagnetic and not permagnetic.

 

Very good design really. Although diamagnetic repelling is still quite expeerimental in this case. Also bismuth is quite dense and heavy compared to aluminium. Alternatively levitation could be made with two pairs of magnetic rings facing each other. One pair at each side of the motor casing.

[DougF]

I was looking for off the shelf parts for our rover and found this artical and thought it was a good idea, I don't think we would get stuck with this type of setup. check the link what do you think.

 

 

Planetary rovers

Planetary Rovers Might Roam Better

with an Elastic Loop Mobility System

 

For the Lunar Rover Vehicles on Project Apollo' date=' NASA developed a wire mesh wheel that would not go flat. Working on improved designs, Costes revived Kitchens' idea with an interesting variation.

 

The variation developed by Costes (working in cooperation with the late W. Trautwein, then of Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.) raised the main wheels, added a load wheel next to each main wheel, and used modern materials to make a stiffer, more robust track. This turned the track into a spring that elevated the vehicle and let rocks and dirt fall off before they could jam the main wheels.

 

The new design also spread the vehicle's load over a larger area, giving the vehicle better traction in a smaller package than it could get with wheels.

 

The drawing at right depicts the basic design of the ELMS. A working vehicle could be much longer with little change in this outline. Links to 640x350-pixel, 32K GIF. Credit: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center.

 

Tests on simulated lunar soil at the U.S. Army's Waterways Experiment Station showed that the loop wheel, as they sometimes called it, performed better than the Lunar Rover wheels. Loop wheel vehicles could climb 35-degree slopes, compared to an 18-degree maximum for the Lunar Rover, and could climb obstacles twice as large as those of conventional treaded vehicles. The quality of the ride was improved, too.The Apollo program ended before the ELMS could be applied to later rovers. In 1972, Martin Marietta, the prime contractor for the Viking Mars landers, rediscovered the ELMS. At the urging of the director of NASA's Langley Research Center (which managed Viking), Costes started developing concepts so a Viking Mars lander could roam. The first two Mars landers were already in development, but managers at Langley hoped that a proposed Viking '79 (right) might be fitted to move. That was never funded, either. [/quote']

 

 

GAHD: I'll help where I can. :hihi: