MOLAB and other rover concepts from apollo era (also, looking for northrop one)

[jcalvert]

So, for last few weeks i have been binging NTRS looking for concept moon rovers, especially the pressurised ones, and i have realised one thing - while we have  decent amount of  information on Boeing one:
pdf link:
http://libarchstor2.uah.edu/digitalcollections/items/show/2314





Or about bendix concepts:
https://repository.hou.usra.edu/items/b16889c7-f41e-46f5-bcfc-278dd4b4a515/full

 



However, i was unable to find any proper plans for the OG northrop MOLAB proposal.
The best i was able to find is simplified isometric sketch  and bunch of even simpler schematics related to its mobility:


This is despite the northrop concept being featured pretty prominently on concept art, and having full scale mockup built for training.




So i guess this is the best place to ask - does anyone here knows about existence of proper  (or at least proper-ish)  3-way schematics of the northrop  wonderful steam boiler ?

Also since i was not able to find a dedicated thread about the subiect, i guess this will be a good place to share anything and everything related to moon manned surface mobility .   I shall be dropping more links and pictures as time allows.

[leovinus]

There was a previous, short lived thread here Many broken links but maybe you like the MOLAB images at
https://library.usgs.gov/photo/#/?terms=MOLAB
which seems to be by General Motors for NASA from 1966+.

The 347 page text at https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1190/

The U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of
Astrogeology—A Chronology of Activities from
Conception through the End of Project Apollo (1960-
1973)
By Gerald G. Schaber*

has more on MOLAB as well.

Sadly, I have no good pointers to the Northrop design. May we ask which report your schematics came from which might give a hint to finding more?

[leovinus]

So i guess this is the best place to ask - does anyone here knows about existence of proper  (or at least proper-ish)  3-way schematics of the northrop  wonderful steam boiler ?

Maybe we can find a bit more on Northrop MOLAB if we go via old bibliographies.  Attached is

MANNED EXPLORATION, COLONIZATION AND EXPLOITATION OF THE LUNAR SURFACE: A SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY, L. R. Magnolia, 10 October 1966

which contains

Northrop Space Labs., Huntsville, Ala.
APOLLO LOGISTICS SUPPORT SYSTEMS MOLAB STUDIES: TASK REPORT ON MOLAB
CONCEPT EVALUATION METHODS, 8 JUNE-21 AUGUST 1964, by D. Ross, NASA-
CR-61021, 1964, NASA N65-12022, (CFSTI $ 2.00), 47 pp.

which gets us to
https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/searchResults/titleDetail/N6512022.xhtml
where we find the Northrop contract number  NAS8-11096

Plugging that into NTRS gives
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search?fundingNumber=NAS8-11096
and about ten or so Molab reports by Northrop. One attached  with some schematics but there are probably more.

[Blackstar]

I briefly mentioned MOLAB here. Does not answer your questions, unfortunately:

https://thespacereview.com/article/4931/1

[leovinus]

The movie at
https://archive.org/details/SugWHDFJnwubu4qvIY6CY6wnOqTf7H
might be of interest. The description includes

The mock-up shown is an early version of the MOLAB, which was initially developed by Northrop beginning in 1963 as an Apollo Logistics Support System. (MOLAB was also known as the "MGL" for "Mobile Geological Laboratory"). This vehicle concept evolved from the study contract NAS8-11096.

and the attached screenshot bears similarity with your images of the Northrop MOLAB concept.

EDIT: I see the last image in your post #1 is probably from the same movie

[jcalvert]

Here's another interesting and as far as i know mostly unknown project i stumbled upon . Its supposed to be from Boeing study from early 1990s .


Apparently it can land on surface on its own. ( i'd imagine it was supposed to be deorbited and slowed down by sperarate stage, and the thrusters on its body would only be used in the very last part of landing. )

The picture is taken from "Shielding Strategies for Human Space Exploration":
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19980137598/downloads/19980137598.pdf

Unfortunately, the document is about wholy other subject, and this rover only gets a passing mention.  The only source given inside the document is 
"Brand Norman Griffin: Pressurized Rovers, Essential for Effective Planetary Exploration, AIAA Paper
# 93-4178, AIAA Space Programs and Technologies Conference, September 1993."
And this one is not publicly avaiable as far as i know, so its a dead end for me.   Any more info would of course be appreciated.

So i actually have no idea from which study the picture really comes from or are there any more details about the thing.    Only boeing rover from the 90s i knew about before was tcompletely different one - that weird "daytime rover" with sideawys cylinder cabin and wheels on spindly legs .

[leovinus]

MOLAB Northrop images (and no link to source material )
https://e05.code.blog/2022/02/10/molab-mockup-scale-models/