10/7/2023 0 Comments Nasa lunar rover![]() The Rover, and the equipment to build those charging stations, will be sent into space on its own rocket. There you are, cruising the Moon wearing a T-shirt and shorts, listening to Ziggy Stardust, gazing out on a beautiful Earth-rise Solar-powered stations will be placed around the Moon, which pre-charge a new set of battery packs, so the Rover can simply pull up and exchange old for new. Even when worked hard, it can go 60 miles on a single charge, which is further than the distance covered by all the Apollo Rovers put together. Flat out, it does 13mph, but it’s geared for torque rather than speed. That’s way more than a Bugatti Veyron, and essential for that bulldozing power. Eight battery packs are sandwiched in the chassis floor, and together they produce over 1,200lb ft of torque. Like a spider picking its way over stones, with some legs perched high and others stretched low while its body stays level, it’s perfect for the boulder-strewn lunar surface.Īnd, of course, it’s electric, as internal combustion is impossible in the vacuum of outer space. Each pair of wheels has its own suspension unit that allows them to climb over rocks while those on the other side drop into hollows. So it’s a 12-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steer machine. It has 12 wheels arranged in six pairs, all of which steer and have their own motor. ![]() Underneath the Winnebago, the Rover has a fabulously capable chassis, nicknamed the ‘golden chariot’ by the people at NASA. And if Richard Branson has his way, you could even be flying there on Virgin. A place where we’d all suck space food through straws and keep pet Clangers. Imagine a sci-fi Moon Town rising from the lunar surface, with silvery buildings and astronauts bouncing down to the office. And it can be fitted with ploughs and blades that transform it into a bulldozer for clearing rocks to make way for lunar construction. The new car has a pressurised pod where astronauts can live for up to two weeks as they search for locations, with beds and a toilet and a shower – like some sort of cosmic Winnebago. Constellation’s goal is to establish moon bases for onward missions to Mars, and for that, we need to build stations and launchpads. This time around, it won’t just be a taxi. That may be a little unfair on the old machines, although it’s true they did look a bit like something MacGyver might rustle up with some chewing-gum wrappers and paper clips. But, in the words of an Apollo 11 engineer, the early moon buggies were “nothing more than fold-up golf karts”. That taught us lots about the Moon and proved the value of cars in space.
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