Assembly of the Wheel Module

MoonRanger’s first functioning wheel module has been assembled. Four of these will drive MoonRanger on the Moon.

The parts include a strut, bearing, seals, hub, wheel and connectors.

The strut is held in bracket with bearing pressed on and seal in place. The cylindrical portion is about the size of a roll of quarters. The bearing is heated to expand it to make the installation possible. Note that the bore is hollow for receiving the actuator that will rotate the wheel.

Assembly is a formal, document-driven, step-by-step procedure that takes place in a static-free clean room. The assembly took about 8 hours. Note the small size of the wheel assembly and the much smaller size of the parts

The fully-assembled wheel module

The wheel module is now ready for vibration testing.