Physics research project - NASA's Lunar Lander

A-Level: Physics

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Introduction
The LLRV is a VTOL (Vertical take-off and landing) experimental vehicle which was a NASA funded project carried out by Bell Aerosystems in the 1960’s prior to the Apollo mission in order to investigate and train for Lunar Landing on the Moon. Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong claimed that ‘the mission would not have been successful without the type of simulation that resulted from the LLRV’. This ‘simulation’ not only provided the astronauts with practical training and experience to improve the likelihood of success in an actual mission, it allowed engineers to create a vehicle which would be structurally sufficient to withstand the forces which may be applied to it on the moon, again enforcing the safety of the planned mission.
Bell Aerosystems design brief was to create a vehicle which could ‘simulate lunar gravity, to provide the “feel” of operation in a vacuum, and to preserve the basic geometry of a true lunar landing vehicle’ . Simulating the “feel” of operation in a vacuum and lunar gravity was achieved with a jet engine propulsion system which will be discussed in further depth. Also to be discussed is the engineering physics undertaken when ensuring an intact landing of the vehicle.
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