Usage
Each rover was used on three traverses, one per day over the three-day course of each mission, with the individual performances logged as follows:
| mission | total distance | total time | longest single traverse | maximum range from the LM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo 15 (LRV-001) | 17.25 miles (27.76 km) | 3 h 02 min | 7.75 miles (12.47 km) | 3.1 miles (5.0 km) |
| Apollo 16 (LRV-002) | 16.50 miles (26.55 km) | 3 h 26 min | 7.20 miles (11.59 km) | 2.8 miles (4.5 km) |
| Apollo 17 (LRV-003) | 22.30 miles (35.89 km) | 4 h 26 min | 12.50 miles (20.12 km) | 4.7 miles (7.6 km) |
An operational constraint on the use of the LRV was that the astronauts must be able to walk back to the LM if the LRV were to fail at any time during the EVA (called the "Walkback Limit"). Thus, the traverses were limited in the distance they could go at the start and at any time later in the EVA. Therefore, they went to the farthest point away from the LM and worked their way back to it so that, as the life support consumables were depleted, their remaining walk back distance was equally diminished. This constraint was relaxed during the longest traverse on Apollo 17, based on the demonstrated reliability of the LRV and spacesuits on previous missions. A paper by Burkhalter and Sharp provides details on usage.
Read more about this topic: Lunar Roving Vehicle
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