In May 1969, NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight issued a document, "Requirements Assessment for Lunar Roving Vehicle." In July, NASA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Lunar Roving Vehicle. The RFP listed 22 specific requirements with regard to the vehicle's design and performance specifications.  During the selection process, the two aerospace firms that remained to compete for the contract win were Bendix Corporation and Boeing Corporation.  After carefully evaluating both the Bendix and Boeing proposals, NASA announced the contract award for the Lunar Roving Vehicle to Boeing in October 1969.

There were seven key subsystems to the LRV's design:

1. Mobility Sub-system
2. Crew Station Sub-system
3. Navigation Sub-system
4. Thermal Control Sub-system
5. Electrical Power Sub-system
6. Communications Sub-system
7. Stowage & Deployment Sub-system

The LRV sub-systems, had to be engineered concurrently in order to meet the demanding delivery schedule.  The Mobility Sub-system was made up of the frame, suspension wheels, traction drive, and steering and drive control electronics.  The Crew Station Sub-system included the control and display console, seats and seatbelts, hand and foot-holds, floor panels and fenders.The Navigation Sub-system Gave the crew direction and distance traveled. The Thermal Protection Sub-system protected the LRV from temperature extremes and provided a means of dissipating accumulated heat from sealed components.  The Electrical Power Sub-system featured two 36-volt silver zinc batteries, quarter-horsepower D.C motors and harmonic drive units for each wheel.   The Communication Sub-system included a TV camera, radio communications equipment and telemetry.     Finally, there was the all-important Stowage and Deployment Sub-system that allowed the two astronauts to get the vehicle off the LM in its operational configuration.

The LRV had to meet a target weight of 400 pounds, it had to be able to fold and store within the small confines of the quad to the right of the lunar module ladder. To get the most compact vehicle possible for its trip to the moon, Boeing designed the LRV to have a forward chassis, center chassis and rear chassis; the forward and rear chassis with their suspension, wheels and tires would fold inward on top of the center chassis.  The wheels and suspension were designed to pivot toward the centerline of the vehicle reducing the envelope even further.  Aluminum was used extensively throughout the LRV. 

There were also performance and delivery requirements stated in the contract negotiated between Boeing and NASA.  If Boeing failed to deliver the first flight LRV in time for the Apollo 15 launch, there would be financial repercussions.  The LRV had to perform on the Moon as stated in the contract or Boeing would not collect its full fee as stated in the contract.   The schedule to deliver the Qualification Test Unit (pictured above), the 1-G Trainer and the LRV Flight Units was less than 18 months--a nearly impossible schedule.  Nevertheless, Boeing gave NASA assurances it could meet this daunting schedule and deliver on time.

Boeing subcontracted the design and construction of the Mobility Sub-system to the General Motors Defense Research Laboratories in California.  (GM would also build the 1-G trainer to be used by the astronauts at Kennedy Space Center.) The most distinctive feature of the Mobility Sub-system focused on the wheel design. GM had, in fact, been working on the design of a rover wheel for several years.   It was a sophisticated design of woven wire mesh, reinforced with titanium steel chevrons along its circumference with an inner band of hoops to prevent the wheel from "bottoming out" and damaging the wheel rim. The wheels were spun aluminum with .83mm diameter strand woven steel mesh zinc plated tires.  To this were riveted titanium chevrons that covered 50 percent of the tire’s contact area.  Within each tire section was a bump stop to prevent collapse of the tire section in the event of hard impact. Each finished wheel weighed less than 5.0 kilograms.

The chassis were fabricated from 2219 alloy.   The DC motors ran at 10,000 rpm and transmitted torque through 80:1 harmonic reduction drives.  If for some reason a motor or harmonic drive unit failed, it could be disengaged from the control console and could free-wheel.  The suspension was double wishbone with upper and lower torsion bar and a damper unit between the chassis and upper wishbone. Front and rear wheel steering permitted very tight turning radius using steering motors; front or rear steering could also be disengaged if necessary.Steering, accelerating, braking and reversing were performed using an ingenious T-handle on the crew console.

GM had also worked on the design of the LRV deployment system. In this and other areas of the LRV, much had already been researched and developed by the time Boeing won the contract and awarded the subcontract to GM.  However, Boeing and GM did not design and develop the LRV alone.  NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center was responsible for managing the LRV program, and it worked closely with Boeing by providing the expertise of Marshall's laboratories and engineering departments on many aspects of the LRV's design development.  The LRV chassis was a very challenging design of minimum weight and maximum possible strength.

The LRV would not only be a means of traversing the lunar surface but would carry equipment that would televise and film their activity, store experiments and provide considerable stowage for tools and other equipment as well as lunar sample stowage.  Pictured at left is the LRV Aft Pallet Assembly (painted white) and the Hand Tool Carrier that pivoted from the Aft Pallet Assembly. The Hand Tool carrier carried all sampling tools and equipment tools on the LRV. This part of the LRV also was used as the work area to separate the the lunar core tubes after the core samples had been collected.

The most distinctive appendage on the LRV was the umbrella-like gold mesh high-gain S-band antenna that would beam live images from the color TV camera.  There was also a low-gain antenna, and a 16mm film data acquisition camera.