{"group":"port","pic":"living/pics/rovers-city.webp","question":"How do you get around when you can't breathe outside?","answer":"By rover. Open two-seaters for quick trips in your suit, long-range rovers you can live in for days, and haulers for cargo, all on smooth gravel roads.","play":{"label":"Drive a rover","href":"play/?at=12.47,-138.4,0.03,0.22,8&era=city&light=day"},"wheel":{"title":"What Mars does to a wheel","sub":"Curiosity's wheels, day by day.","line":"A Curiosity wheel wearing through as the days go by.","days":"days on Mars","drag":"Drag through the days","start":"Curiosity lands with shiny aluminium wheels {rv_wheel} cm across, their skin just {rv_skin} mm thick.","holes":"Sharp rocks cemented into the ground punch the first holes by day {rv_hole}.","rip":"By day {rv_rip}, a big rip. Its drivers now plan smoother routes and shorter hops.","fix":"Arcadia's rovers roll on open wire-mesh wheels, like Apollo's, on roads swept clear of sharp stones."},"steps_title":"Arcadia's rovers","steps":[{"icon":"trail","title":"The trail rover","text":"Two seats, open wire wheels and a gold dish: hop in, in your suit, for quick trips out to the wells or the port."},{"icon":"cruiser","title":"The long-range rover","text":"A cabin as long as Toyota's Lunar Cruiser, {rv_pr_l} m, where four people ride in shirt-sleeves for days."},{"icon":"hauler","title":"The hauler","text":"{rv_h_l} m long on {rv_h_wheels} wheels, carrying one container between the port and the town."},{"icon":"road","title":"The roads","text":"Graded gravel {rv_road_w} m wide with lit marker posts. Rovers cruise them at {rv_road_kmh} km/h."}],"sizes":{"title":"The three rovers to scale","line":"Arcadia's three rovers side on, to scale, with Apollo's Moon rover.","apollo":"Apollo's Moon rover","scale":"Drawn to scale"},"range":{"title":"How far you may go","line":"An open rover alone stays within a suited walk home. Long-range rovers go out in pairs, and later the methane rovers go much further.","town":"Town","open":"Open rover alone: {rv_open_r} km","pair":"Long-range pair: {rv_pr_r} km","opp":"Opportunity's whole marathon","far":"Methane rovers: {rv_far} km"},"earth_mars":{"earth":{"head":"Roads with help on call"},"mars":{"head":"Gravel roads, made for pairs"},"pics":{"earth":"living/pics/em-rovers-earth.webp","mars":"living/pics/em-rovers-mars.webp"},"rows":[{"label":"The road","icon":"car","earth":"Tarmac, street lights and fuel stations all the way.","mars":"Graded, rolled gravel {rv_road_w} m wide, swept after every landing."},{"label":"Going far","icon":"people","earth":"Break down, and help is a phone call away.","mars":"Beyond walking range, rovers go out in pairs, so one can bring both crews home."}]},"living":"Taking a rover is like taking a bike: suit up, hop in, and you are out at the wells in minutes, red dust curling off the wire wheels. Weekends away go in pairs, in shirt-sleeves behind a big window, with the whole plain to yourselves.","fact":"On {rv_a15_date}, two astronauts drove the first car people ever took to another world. Over the Apollo 15 mission they covered {rv_a15_km} km of the Moon in it.","later":{"pics":{"city":"living/pics/rovers-city.webp","far":"living/pics/rovers-far.webp"},"city":{"tag":"Pairs on the plain","text":"Open rovers hum between the wells, the port and the farms, and long-range rovers always head out two by two."},"far":{"tag":"Roads between cities","text":"Long-range rovers run on the city's own methane and oxygen, out along the roads to the other cities of Mars."}},"pin":[0.635,0.46],"scene":{"pic":"living/pics/scene-rovers.webp","look":"03-05","shot":"road","focus":"45% 55%","spots":[{"at":[0.19,0.58],"side":"left"},{"at":[0.45,0.42]},{"at":[0.69,0.42]},{"at":[0.48,0.8]}]},"proof":{"pic":"living/people/rovers-proof.webp","place":"Hadley Rille, the Moon","when":"{rv_a15_date}","head":"The first car on another world","credit":"Photo: NASA/David Scott (public domain)"},"quiz":[{"q":"Why do rovers beyond walking range go out in pairs?","a":["So one can bring both crews home","The roads only run one way","Rovers charge each other"],"why":"Beyond walking range, rovers always head out two by two, so if one stops the other carries everyone home.","more":"Lunokhod 2 was driven on the Moon from Crimea by a crew of six, steering by joystick from its mast camera's pictures.","cite":"03-05 V-08, V-09, F-24","from":"fix","fig":0,"icon":"people"},{"q":"What tore holes in Curiosity's wheels?","a":["Sharp rocks cemented into the ground","Dust storms","The cold at night"],"why":"Curiosity's wheels have a skin just {rv_skin} mm thick. Sharp rocks fixed in the ground punched holes by day {rv_hole}.","more":"Spirit got stuck in soft sand in 2009. Its last {rv_sp_drives} backward drives moved it just {rv_sp_in} inches.","cite":"03-05 F-21, F-22","from":"problem","fig":0,"icon":"car"},{"q":"How long is the long-range rover?","a":["{rv_pr_l} m, as long as the Lunar Cruiser","About as long as a bike","Longer than the hauler"],"why":"Its cabin is {rv_pr_l} m long, the length of Toyota's Lunar Cruiser, with room for four on trips of several days.","more":"Apollo's rover travelled to the Moon folded flat against its lander. Astronauts lowered it with pulleys, ropes and cloth tapes.","cite":"03-05 V-16, F-15, F-05","from":"why","fig":0,"icon":"car"}],"notes":[{"beat":"fix","text":"Opportunity drove the first Mars marathon, {rv_opp} km, finishing {rv_opp_y} years and {rv_opp_m} months after it landed.","cite":"03-05 F-23"}],"from":"From the road home","everyday":{"title":"A day on the roads","items":[{"time":"07:50","head":"Out to the wells","text":"Two of you hop in a trail rover and hum out along the road to the ice wells.","tag":"{rv_road_kmh} km/h on the road","pic":"living/pics/em-rovers-mars.webp","pos":"62% 50%"},{"time":"13:10","head":"The hauler rolls in","text":"A hauler brings a fresh container in from the port, right to the dome's door.","tag":"{rv_h_wheels} wheels","pic":"living/pics/scene-rovers.webp","pos":"68% 45%"},{"time":"17:40","head":"Weekend away","text":"A long-range rover heads out across the plain for two days, in shirt-sleeves behind its big window.","tag":"{rv_pr_r} km at most","pic":"living/pics/rovers-far.webp","pos":"50% 50%"}]}}