Mining the Moon has long been a dream of humankind. During the height of the Apollo era, many designs were brought forth that could more than get the job done. Most of the surface vehicles would house a crew (Image 1, Image 2, Image 3) along with excavation equipment. Astronauts would drive up to a location of interest and explore the area while strolling on the Moon.
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| Image 1: A rover design for lunar mining |
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| Image 3: The lunar rover Mobile Surface Application design |
The more interesting excavation equipment are the backhoe (Image 4) and the crane. The backhoe scoops up dirt, while the crane lifts payload on and off various vehicles.
Some surface vehicles had a hybrid of different excavation equipment, such as a backhoe, bulldozer blade, and soil hopper (Image 5) on one transport.
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| Image 5: The MOBEV R1CB design |
All surface vehicles would be battery–operated, and would have been recharged at a solar–powered charging station.
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