Public invited
to putter in
moon venicie

By Michael Becker

. News Editer
michael@nsnews.com

IT looks much like a
nerdy version of one of
those dune buggies you
sometimes see in those
beach blanket Watusi-
fests Frankie and
Annette cavorted about
in during the 1960s.

Omega watch sales agent
Frank Sullivan is at the con-
trols of the lunar rover.
Boeing built the thing for
NASA all those years ago, but
today the four-wheel-drive rig
is working for Omega.
Sullivan is going around in
circles on a greasy patch of
asphalt in the parking lot at
the Park Royal South mall in
West Vancouver.

The rover is on the North
Shore to hype the opening of
a Lugaro Jewellers outlet at
the maii. The store sells the
high-end time pieces.

This rover is fitted w
fenders and rubber wheels for
a life on earth. Its three wire-
wheeled counterparts are now
space junk, abandoned on the
moon by Apollo astronauts.

Sullivan steers the thing
with a joy stick. The rover
whines as it moves. No
throaty roar here. It’s an elec-

\

tric vehicle and it looks
strangely primitive. For it’s
time however it was a compo-
nent of some of the best tech-
nology men and women
could dream up to succeed in
an act as patently audacious as
travelling to the moun and
back.

“Everything you are riding
on is late 1960s, early 1970s
technology. It’s _ pretty
advanced when you think how
long it has survived,” said
Sullivan.

Some rover vital statistics:
B length 310 cm (29 ft.);
width 183 cm (6 ft.);

wheelbase 230 em (7.5 ft.);

earth weight 209 kg (500
Ibs.);

@ moon weight 35 kg (8 Ibs,);
B top speed 18 km/h (11
mph);
Bi wheel diameter 81 cm (2.5
&.).
The original rovers were
powered by two silver zinc
batteries. The batteries drove
four electric motors, one to
drive each wire-mesh wheel.

The rover was carried to
the moon in the cargo com-
partment of the descent stage
of the lunar module.

The vehicie could operate
a minimum of 78 hours as
astronauts collected soil sam-
ples and conducted scientific
experiments on the moon.

The earth version in town
is powered by four large bar-
teries that take 24 hours to
charge. That will give you
approximately three hours of
juice for driving time. It’s
quite casy to manoeuvre. A
joy stick gives you left, right,

‘s busine

backwards and forwards.
There are life-support packs
mounted directly behind the
seats te plug in to in case you
are in need of some air.

The instrumenr panel
ahead of you shows distance

d, range from target
destination and a compass.
There are switches to engage
the motors and lights to warn
you when you are travelling
too fast. An indicator shows
attinide to within 15 degrees.
The panel gives speed and
battery information too, The
rover’s frame is primarily alu-
minum.

The vehicle is fitted with a
still camera. There is a solar
collector and antennas to
receive and send signai

A storage flap ahe
two seats bears numerous
autographs of some of the
famous people who have
hopped on for a ride on this
rover. There’s astronaut Tom
Stafford’s signature.

The Omega press kit tells us
that Stafford wore an Omega
Speedmaster Professional on
his wrist in 1975.

So too did Russian cosmo-
naut Alexei Leonov when they
met in space during the
Apollo-Soyus space —_ren-
dezvous. Look, there’s Tiger
Woods’ signature. “We did
some golf promotions,” said
Sullivan.

Pecple of the North
Shore: vou can take a spin on
this far-out vehicle today at
Park Royal South. The money
you donate for the privilege
will help ta support Lions
Gate Hospital Foundation.

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WEST Vancouver Mayor Pat Boname checks out the lunar rover at the new Lugaro

Jewellers outiet at Park Royal South.

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