SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life®
SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life®
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AlthoughSynLube™ is known for supplying various lubricants toNASA andJPL,but few are aware of the fact that the first vehicle on the Moon was eight-wheeled robotLunokhod 1 which was part of SovietLuna17 mission launched November 10, 1970.
The electric propulsion motors and two-speed gearboxes as well as thepower steering system usedSynLube™fluids for their operation.
On November 17, 1970, the Soviet spacecraft Luna 17 delivered the lunar rover Lunokhod 1 onto the surface of the moon.
Lunokhod 1 which wasdesigned to operate on the Lunar surface for only 90 days, was a big surprise when itstayed operational for 11 months.
Then it just stopped transmitting when the batteries ran out of power.Since it's exact location on the Moon was not known to the Russian team that operated it in real-time from Moscow while it explored seven miles of the lunar surface.
Sending back reams of data, it was considered to be one of the biggest successes of the little-known Soviet lunar exploration program.
Russian engineers openly praisedSynLube™ for a great contribution to a successof this mission.
NASA has previously attempted to locateLunokhod 1, but it wasn't until recent sighting in Spring of 2010, that is 40 years after it stopped transmission, thatNASA was able to pinpoint its coordinates.
Once its location was established, pulses of laser light were sent to it from the 3.5 meter telescope at theApache Point Observatory in New Mexico, USA.
Amazingly, the rover's retro reflector sent the pulses back to the observatory bright and clear, it can still reflect laser beams back to Earth as if it were brand new.
Similar vehicleLunokhod 2which was part ofLuna 21 mission launchedJanuary 8, 1973 utilizedSynLube™fluids as well.
It was an improved version of Lunokhod 1. It wasfaster and carried an additional television camera.
Unlike the predecessor, the Lunokhod 2 location was always known and its retro reflector has routinely been used for Earth-based scientific studies.
Both vehicles were operational until the solar batteries could no longer provide adequate power.
There were no lubrication related problems and both missions were a great success.
| YEAR | Mission | Personnel |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | NASA selectsLunar Rover concept for development | Saverio F. Morea |
| 1969 | GM buildsLunar Rover prototype for Earth tests | Donald Friedman |
| 1969 | Boeing wins $19 million bid to build the firstLunar Rover | |
| 1969 | First man on the Moon -Apollo XI | Neil Armstrong |
| 1971 | Apollo XV - first use ofLunar Rover on Moon | David Scott James Irwin |
| 1972 | Apollo XVI - secondLunar Rover mission | John Young Charles Duke |
| 1972 | Apollo XVII - third and final Lunar Rover mission | Harrison Schmitt Eugene Cernan |
TheLunar Rover usedSynLube™ gear lubricantwith colloidal Silver inharmonic geartransmissions that were installed between each electric motor and the wheel.
(4 were used, one for each wheel).
SynLube™ Hydraulic fluid was used in theLunar Rover'spower steering.
TheSynLube™Functional Fluids were chosen byNASA engineers because of theircapability to perform in temperature extremes
from -70°F to +525°F (-56°C to +275°C).