A Survey of Lunar Cranes and Some Inspiration from the Perspective of Earth Crane Technology

Abstract

Since the end of Project Apollo, no such large lunar exploration projects have been carried out. However, much research and many investigations have been carried out in order to analyze and propose detailed human exploration of the Moon in the future. From the results of completed studies, the next generation of lunar exploration should be diverse missions with complex functional compartments and long-term personal station. For the demands of such large construction works, professional equipment is inevitably needed. Based on the experience of construction on Earth, the concept of developing a kind of crane system for lunar missions was firstly proposed in the 1980s. More detailed designs using the concepts of the gantry crane and the boom crane with stable hoisting systems were established in the 1990s. In the first decade of 21th century, a device called the Lunar Surface Manipulation System (LSMS) was presented with two generations of prototypes, along with two variant models. The LSMS is designed with similar structure and features to a lattice boom crane on Earth, and such similarities bring us great inspirations from the current and the upcoming technology of Earth cranes. For example, the optimization of the cable-boom folding structure and mechanism involves to the lattice boom cranes, expanding the operation range by considering a telescopic boom system.