fut/lnr_v_bw_o_n (unnumbered, 1961 poss. Space-General photo)

“In the early ‘60s, as part of the preparations for the Apollo manned moon landing mission, the Jet Propulsion Lab planned a follow-on program to its very successful ‘hard’ landing ‘Ranger’ program, which gave the first close-up views of the moon’s surface. the proposed ‘soft’ lander program was called ‘Surveyor’. An initial concept was for it to disgorge a moon surface-traversing vehicle to conduct a neighborhood survey near its landing position. it was to be commanded by a tv - radio control guidance link. This link was to be relayed to and from the moon via the Surveyor’s earth communication system. A lunar rover competition was opened and the relatively new star on the horizon, Space-General, decided to respond.”

The above & all subsequent I believe, in uncertain order, are excerpts from Dr. Robert F. Brodsky’s book, “On the Cutting Edge: Tales of a Cold War Engineer at the Dawn of the Nuclear, Guided Missile, Computer and Space Ages’, published 2006 by University of Nebraska Press for Richard Altschuler & Associates, Inc./ Gordian Knot Books.

“The damned thing looks like a cross between a crazy Bull Terrier and a Peacock!”, my Boss said. After weeks of in-plant secrecy, we had finally unveiled our robotic entry in the moon rover sweepstakes. To everyone’s amazement and delight, Jack Miller was directing its peregrinations around the back forty of our El Monte campus, using a hand-held radio control link device. With its ridiculous TV camera “head” wagging from side to side on its long tubular swiveling “neck” scanning the local scenery, the six-legged beast really did look outré - like a malformed hound out of Star Wars.

At that time, I was Chief Engineer, reporting to Dr. Fred Eimer, recently recruited from JPL by Jack Froehlich and who, in turn, had reached back there to recruit Jack Miller and Al Morrison for my Design Group. They quickly had proven themselves to be two absolutely top-notch designers. I organized a proposal team, with the sterling duo in the conceptual design lead. The design we came up with was a walking, rather than a rolling or hopping, vehicle. We believed a walker stood a better chance of navigating an unknown surface than the other options. Its body was triangular in shape, longer in the forward moving direction than wide, and about 6 inches thick. Its flat sides were parallel to the ground, with the underside standing about a foot off the ground. The swivel – mounted TV camera that looked like a Cyclops was mounted on the forward – moving point of the triangle. The aft sets of legs emanated from the other two points of the triangle, thus providing a broad stable base to preclude tipping. More than covering the creature’s upper back was a square solar array which provided drive motor, communications, and TV camera power. This array was hinged near the base of the TV camera supporting “neck” and could be raised up to a 45-degree angle to track the sun as it moved through its lunar day. At its larger angle extensions, it gave the beast the appearance of a peacock in heat! The antenna that communicated with the Surveyor was attached to the top end of the array. Adding to the fowl appearance was a forward thrusting claw at the end of a second tubular bendable “neck”, meant to pick up lunar samples, but actually looking more like a peacock pecking at the ground.

However, the feature that made it all work was the unique arrangement and motion of the three pairs of biped-like tubular legs, with both knee and hip joints, which gave it the ability to navigate through minor pitfalls such as rocks and potholes. Any larger impediments would be avoided via command from the earth operator who would see them in time to transmit a “halt” signal. The motion of each leg set looked like a dog’s front legs digging a hole in the ground. The two sets of rear legs were attached to the “haunches” of the triangular body, while the single forward set was attached under the long-necked TV “head”. The footpads themselves were slightly rounded and serrated on the bottom to provide a good grip, and thus precluded the need for an ankle joint.

The driving mechanisms that Jack and Al devised were such that there were always three of the six feet on the ground simultaneously, moving backwards to provide forward motion. The other three leg sets, each located right next to and parallel to the foot already on the ground, were making a rapid return cycle so that they would contact the ground forward just as the propelling feet reached the end of their backward travel. Steering was achieved by simultaneously speeding up one haunch set of legs while proportionately slowing down the other side. The forward pair of legs maintained the normal pace. If forward motion was impeded before the earth controllers could act soon enough to stop and regroup, the robot automatically ceased forward travel and waited for a command, perhaps to back up and make a turn before proceeding forward again. We decided to make a full-scale demonstration model of the concept as part of our proposal submittal. It stood about four feet tall from the ball of its foot to the top of its deployed antenna. It was this model that delighted our peers, with its fey look of a defanged futuristic pet. It truly was sensational!

Alas, by the end of the competition, the SURVEYOR’s final design weight had grown so heavy that the intended launch vehicle did not have the lifting power to accomplish the mission. Weight had to be dropped and, to our everlasting grief, the moon rover portion of the program was summarily deleted. When I heard the news, I almost cried. We had poured so much heart and soul in the frenzied period of the proposal effort. All the participants were simply unwilling to let go of what we perceived as a wondrous device and sought ways to revive the program. The beast was kept around the office like a pet.

At:

cyberneticzoo.com/walking-machines/1961-moonwalker-lunar-...
All above credit the excellent ‘Cybernetic Zoo’ website

My research in trying to identify the artist of an obscure, rarely seen work, led me to discover that it was the cover of the above book, authored by Dr. Brodsky. A few clicks later led me to the above, along with the posted photograph…and many others, revealing the good Doctor’s intimate involvement with the “moonwalker” rover as well.
Proof that some - if not all - rabbit holes, depending on far down you go them, regardless how seemingly desperate, are somehow inter-connected. A pretty cosmic revelation, I think. Might even somehow correlate to wormholes & other possible dimensions.

Taken on: September 19, 2021

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Al Morrison

Jack Miller

JPL

Jack Froehlich

Fred Eimer

moonwalker

lunar mobility

moon mobility

solar array

solar arrays

Project Apollo

Apollo Program

Space-General Corporation

Aerojet-General

Robert F. Brodsky

R. F. Brodsky

Surveyor Program

Surveyor spacecraft

robot

lunar exploration

lunar roving

lunar rover

robotic spacecraft

glossy photo

black and white

contraption « less

Sets appears in: • Breaking The Bonds & Firsts • Miscellaneous Photos & Prints more » • Rangers & Surveyors To The Moon « less

Groups appears in: • Space Exploration • OUT OF THIS WORLD more » • Riding with Robots on the High Frontier • Cosmic Noodles / Galactic Doodles « less

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