Viking lander with ELMS (Viking C, Viking 3, Viking III)

NASA SP-4021
ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1976
A Chronology

1976 October:

"MSFC announced development of a new system of vehicle mobility that could greatly extend unmanned explorations on the surface of Mars and other planets. The concept grew out of work on the successful lunar roving vehicle that carried astronauts and equipment on extended exploration of the moon, far from the lunar module as landing site. Scientists had regretted the lack of mobility of the Viking landers on the surface of Mars, because the data on atmosphere and terrain had been limited to the landing site. The new idea, called Elastic Loop Mobility System (ELMS), would use a continuous elastic-loop track in place of the landing pads; the track would distribute lander weight uniformly over a relatively large area, with suspension and drive systems on the spacecraft combined into a single lightweight package. The geometry of the loop would serve to provide "excellent mobility" on soft soils and smooth rides over hard and rough terrain. Tests on models revealed slope-climbing capability, high maneuverability, and power to surmount obstacles and cross crevasses. Combining the ELMS with existing Viking hardware would produce a mobile laboratory that could conduct scientific missions on the Mars surface for 6 mo along traverses up to 150 km.

Recent reviews of a possible mobile-Viking mission to Mars, using the ELMS concept, considered extending the mission to 2 yr along traverses up to 500 km. The low ground clearance of the Viking spacecraft, together with the low ground-pressure tolerances on soft Martian soil, ruled out the use of wheels for mobility, as well as the use of conventional tracks because of high energy consumption and low operational reliability. Besides use of the MSFC-developed ELMS for planetary exploration, the U.S. Marine Corps had considered the system for a new generation of amphibious landing vehicles for the 1980s, a MSFC spokesman said. (MSFC Release 76-191)"

hdl.handle.net/2060/19840017534
 
Roaming in the gloaming on Mars et al. // New Scientist. - 1976. - 18 nov. - p. 388.

"Roaming in the gloaming on Mars et al.

Future Viking landers may roam about the surface of Mars or other planets as a result of a development of the Marshall Space Flight Centre of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Known as Elastic Loop Mobility System (ELMS), it consists of a barrel-shaped continuous loop which would replace each of the three landing pads on the present design.

None of NASA's soft-landing unmanned spacecraft so far has been mobile, although the later Apollo missions carried Lunar Roving Vehicles to transport men and equipment across the Moon's surface. ELMS has been developed from this experience, and follows the Soviet Union's Lunokhod lunar laboratories.

ELMS distributed the vehicle's weight evenly over a relatively large area and acts as its own suspension. This, combined with the use of a traction drive system having low internal energy losses, is claimed to allow traverses of 150 km to be made over six months. Two-year missions, covering 500 km, are also being considered. Wheels cannot be used, because of the Viking Lander's low ground clearance and the soft Martian soil, and conventional tracks are heavy, complex, energy-demanding and unreliable.

In extensive tests the ELMS has shown that it can climb 30-40° slopes on soft soil and 45° gradients on a hard surface. Vehicles fitted with the equipment can surmount step obstacles up to 85 per cent as high as the ELMS is long, and can cross crevasses of widths up to 90 per cent of the ELMS length. Such vehicles also have good static stability and manoeuvrability. ELMS is additionally being examined by the US Marine Corps for possible use on amphibious landing vehicles in the 1980s."

http://books.google.ru/books?id=9_bJmEOXKbkC&printsec=frontcover&hl=ru&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
 

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Newspapers:

The Prescott Courier - Nov 26, 1976. - p. 15
Indiana Evening Gazette. - 1976. - Nov 26. - p. 8.
The Baytown Sun. - 1976. - Dec 02. - p. 19
The Fort Scott Tribune - Dec 3, 1976. - p. 7.
Daily Globe. - 1976. - Dec 04. - p. 12.
The Columbus Telegram. - 1976. - Dec 08. - p. 1.
The Hour () - Dec 9. - 1976. - p. 45
Sarasota Journal. - 1976. - Dec 13. - (Vol. 25. - N 168). - p. 8.
Statesville Record And Landmark. - Dec 15, 1976. - p. 13
The Gadsden Times.- 1977. - Jan 27. - p. 34.

"ELMS, standing for Elastic Loop Mobility System, may be the next step in exploring the surface of Mars. ELMS, involving a continuous elastic-loop track device replacing the landing pads on the present Viking landers, would enable the vehicles to range widely over the surface of Mars and other planets. The concept was developed from the Lunar Roving Vehicle used successfully in Apollo missions to the moon."
 

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Fisher A. Martian rover: Science newsport // Popular Science. - 1977. - Feb. - p. 18.

"Martian rover

"If only we could move it to that beautiful rock over there ... if only we could get on top of that hill to see over it ..." That's the lament of the scientists managing the successful Viking missions to Mars. For although the landers are performing superbly, they are rooted to their landing sites, and so their reach is severely limited.

The solution, for future missions to Mars or other planets, may be the vehicle concept shown here, developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and called the Elastic Loop Mobility System (ELMS). An elastic-loop track would replace each of the three landing pads on the present Viking landers, distributing weight uniformly over a large surface area and combining the suspension and drive systems of the craft into one compact, lightweight module.

A study by the Viking Project Office at Langley, Va., with experts from Marshall, the Martin-Marietta Corp., and Lockheed, concluded that it is technically feasible to meld the ELMS concept to a third, backup Viking lander. The result would be a roving scientific laboratory able to range the Martian surface for six months at a time, over distances of up to 90 miles. A future planetary rover with ELMS might run for two years with a range of 300 miles."

http://books.google.ru/books?id=IwEAAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Popular+Science+1977&hl=ru&sa=X&ei=ohvAUMaELtOM4gSykoGQAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA
 

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Postage stamps

http://magnus-z.livejournal.com/102735.html

comores_1977_space_mi_373a.jpg
 

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Nice Picture

Next to Viking III, were also a Viking Phobos rover study
a Viking lander with long legs and "umbral" mesh wheels

source from: Romance to Reality

original report
Final Report: A Study of System Requirements for Phobos/Deimos Missions,
Vol. I, Summary;
Vol. II, Phase I Results - Satellite Rendezvous and Landing Missions;
Vol. III, Phase II Results - Satellite Sample Return Missions and Satellite Mobility Concepts;
Vol. IV, Phase III Results - Combined Missions to Mars and Its Satellites; Martin Marietta Corporation, Denver Division, June 1972.
 

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Those stamps are amusing.

There is currently a book in the works on Mars missions from Viking to Curiosity, with a focus on JPL. Of course, very little happened for over a decade after Viking. Then there was Mars Observer, which got really bloated. The story gets really interesting after Mars Observer failed in 1993 and there was a scramble to re-invent planetary space programs and to shake JPL out of its big spacecraft mentality.

I don't know when the book is expected to be published.
 

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Last edited:
blackstar said:
The story gets really interesting after Mars Observer failed in 1993 and there was a scramble to re-invent planetary space programs and to shake JPL out of its big spacecraft mentality.
Click to expand...


...Ah, the days of the "Battlestar Galactica" probes. But you have to admit, tho, when JPL gets one of them right, they exceed expectations. What's the expected End of Mission now? 2017 or 2018, depending on whether or not they decide to give the mission one more extension to park it in orbit around Titan and at least see if they can keep it running long enough to detect any mascons? I know some of the JPL guys were calling for a ring impact attempt to get some of those closeup images that weren't possible during Saturn arrival, and another was calling for either using a gravity assist to send it to either Chiron, Uranus or especially Neptune, even though odds are that only the really younger JPL guys will be alive by the time it arrives ~40 years later, +/- 3 years.


...Me, I'd go for the Titan Stable Orbit one. You'd still get a longer science return, and to be totally honest crashing probes into Saturn itself or one of the icy moons just seems like too much of a waste of a good Battlestar. I might be persuaded to do the ring impact, if just for the fact that I can see the damn thing plowing through and coming out relatively intact, forcing the JPL guys who pushed for this "Spectacular Finale" to go "uh...well, I dunno. What *do* we do now?" ;D ;) :p
 
 
That's a neat find. I don't think that mobility system would have worked, however.
There was also a study of sample return using a Viking lander.
 

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