![]() ![]() The exact types of problems are difficult to guess ahead of time, but it would require bringing a whole lot of spare parts, for technology from 40 years ago. No doubt there would be other problems as well. The metal frame is probably mostly intact, but will contain some cracks in it, causing significant losses of structural capacity. No doubt they have some holes in them by now, the best bet would be to just replace them. Most metals have a slightly different expansion coefficient, most likely causing them to have expanded/contracted at different rates. The wheels are composed of a variety of metals. Even averaging that out a bit, that's still a 200 degree thermal swing, which will cause problems will all sorts of things. ![]() The number of thermal cycles is on the order of 500 for each one, and the cycles are brutal, going from -150C to as high as 120C each time. Not only will the batteries be completely discharged, but the rovers have gone through a large number of lunar days since then, creating a large thermal cycle. Probably, but you likely wouldn't drive it away. So yeah, while a fun question, the answer is not really in can you, but more in could you. You would likely need heavier equipment and spare parts to just get them running again, than your brand new vehicle you could bring along would weight. So while the tires were made of zinc-coated and woven steel strands, they are still likely in rather poor condition with good 45 years of continuous bombardment of highly charged particles in Coronal Mass Ejections (CME), Solar radiation and the lunar surface regolith electromagnetic discharge.Īll other parts of LRVs would also likely be in terrible condition, with maybe their aluminum alloy frame, fender extensions and the metallic parts of the seats still in functional order, but the rest would be decayed due to previously mentioned environmental conditions. They weren't inflatable, so merely bringing a hand air pump along wouldn't work, and is not merely a matter of the pump not working because there is no real atmosphere to speak of (there is a tiny bit of pressure though due to what we call an exosphere) on the surface of the Moon. Either case, they would be utterly out of juice and possibly impossible to recharge. Partially because of them being used up to a great extent by the Apollo missions themselves, partially because of self-discharging, and partially because of exposure to solar radiation decaying their chemical composition. It has been mentioned previously that the batteries these LRVs used to run their engines with would have been depleted by now. You would need quite a few spare parts on you to make it work, though. But it most certainly wouldn't be a Grand Theft Auto, even if you didn't. It would be customary, a polite gesture, to ask their previous owners first. ![]() Nobody is a legal authority on the Moon, not yet at least, and even if there was someone, would they be able to stop you appropriating by now a defunct vehicle? I don't think so. Americans might have been sticking their national flags into the lunar surface, but that wasn't a territorial claim, just a display of national pride for making it there first. Seriously though, while I might not be a space lawyer, there would be nothing wrong in legal terms to borrow and reuse a vehicle abandoned on no man's land. Seriously, NASA! (Photograph attribution: NASA and yours truly) Fun question! Provided the three Lunar Roving Vehicles (LRV) left on the surface of the Moon by the last three Apollo program missions were not, tongue-in-cheek, towed away for unpaid parking, reckless driving and littering fines, or clamped by the Lunar people (not to be confused with Lunatics), I don't see why not, provided you have brought along all the spare parts you might need and can make them work:Ĭlamped Lunar Roving Vehicle (CLRV).
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