Metalastic Wheels (1962) On 7 November 1962, NASA told the world
that it had selected Grumman Aircraft Engineering Company to
manufacture the Apollo Lunar Module (LM) manned moon lander.
Even before the U.S. civilian space agency tapped the company to
build the LM, Grumman engineers had begun to look beyond Apollo.
In a paper presented in June 1962, for example, engineer Edward
Markow summed up 18 months of Grumman studies of advanced lunar
surface locomotion systems. Markow reported that the moon’s
reduced gravity (equal to one-sixth of Earth’s gravitational
pull) created unique difficulties for designers of lunar surface
vehicles. For example, a simple turning maneuver has to contend
with the same centrifugal forces as on earth, but only 1/6 of
the stability force [provided by gravity] is available on the
moon. [Thus, a] 3000-pound vehicle would require a 16-foot wheel
base, just to prevent overturning, while negotiating a modest
20-foot radius turn at 10 miles per hour. Response of the
vehicle’s suspension