Apollo 17, third traverse

Apollo 17 to Apollo 17 via Van Serg

4.20 km

Along the terrain route between the endpoints, through the via points in order, searched at 474 m resolution.

Direct line: 4.20 km, about 31 min. Terrain route: 4.20 km, about 31 min.

The third drive went north to the massif boulders and the Sculptured Hills; its last stop was Van Serg (Station 9), the only station of that day at an IAU-named crater. Drawn as legs between the numbered stations' craters, as the direct line or as a terrain route, an approximation of the crew's actual track. Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, Traverse to Geology Station 9 at Van Serg Crater; NSSDCA, The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle

Travel time, estimated

Apollo rover:: About 31 min, estimatedterrain routeSource: NSSDCA, The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle; Apollo 15 Mission Report (MSC-05161, 1971); Apollo 17 Mission Report (JSC-07904, 1973)
On foot:: About 1 h 12 min, estimateddirect lineSource: Eppler et al., Lunar highland terrain walking EVA operations (LPSC 2025, abstract 2023)
VIPER:: About 7 h 46 min, estimateddirect lineSource: NASA, VIPER rover and instruments (science.nasa.gov, 2023)

Assumptions, Apollo rover:

The route was searched on the NASA LRO LOLA elevation model at 474 m resolution, the tier used for this route.
It avoids slopes steeper than 25 degrees at that resolution only: every slope is a mean over 474 m samples, so a steeper stretch inside one sample is not seen.
It does not account for craters, boulders, shadow, or anything smaller than 474 m across.
Travel time only, not a mission duration: continuous travel with no stops, rest, recharging, communication passes or lighting constraints.
Level-ground speed 8.29 km/h: total distance driven over total driving time on Apollo 15, 16 and 17 (27.8 km in 3 h 02 min, 26.7 km in 3 h 26 min, 35.9 km in 4 h 26 min).
Speed interpolated between the handbook's smooth-mare capability at 0, 5 and 10 degrees, the Apollo 17 report's 4 to 5 km/h at 20 degrees, and zero at 25 degrees, scaled so the flat speed is the typical traverse speed. The same reduction is applied downhill (descents were driven in braking mode), which is an assumption.
Segments steeper than 25 degrees are not timed: design slope; the steepest slopes actually reported were 18 degrees up and 20 degrees down (Apollo 17) and about 20 degrees (Apollo 16).

Elevation profile

Ascent: 25 m
Descent: 25 m
Max slope: 1.0°
Elevation: -2,650 to -2,625 m
Elevation data: LOLA, 474 m samples
In daylight: 4.20 of 4.20 km as of 00:06 UTC, computed when this page was served

Elevation sampled every 474 m from the NASA LRO LOLA model, so local slopes are smoothed and the steep flags are optimistic. Heights are above the 1,737.4 km sphere. Daylight is the Sun above a smooth horizon, computed along the great circle. The map and the elevation chart load with JavaScript.

Crosses 1 cell

27QDQ

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