99er, Thanks for that information as it all.....
makes sense as far as the part you mentioned from the patent claim.
But, I don't see how that part of the patent claim has anything to do with the mechanical planetary gear portion of the invention. The claim part of the patent that you posted is related to the power source for the mechanical planetary gear portion of the invention. Can you find, someday, the patent reference to the mechanical planetary gear portion of the invention itself?
I would be sure that the electrically modified transmission machine built for NASA does not incorporate any energy recovery feature in the invention. It would seem to me that there is an ample source of solar energy available to operate that machine without needing to try to reclaim any energy from a braking operation on the lunar surface.
My earlier point was only to the mechanical planetary gear portion of the invention, not any other portion.
I was thinking that the inventors started with the basic general mechanical planetary gear technology and then just built around and off of that basic non-patentable technology.