NASA's New Lunar Rover
Chariot Lunar Rover Now Undergoing Field Testing
The original lunar rover was an open seat battery powered vehicle that could travel just a few miles. Apollo era astronauts had to ride the old lunar rover in their space suits to various sites around the lunar module landing zone.
The Chariot lunar rover is a large, six wheel drive vehicle with active suspension and computerized navigation. It has a totally enclosed, pressurized cabin where the astronauts can ride in shirt sleeved comfort. It has a range of 62 miles and can operate independently for two weeks at a time. The pressurized cabin comes with beds, a pantry, a waste-management system, and a pair of space suits.
According to National Geographic, "...the Chariot has a longer wheelbase and is outfitted with the same automatic stability control used to keep today's sport-utility vehicles from rolling over. Steering is controlled by a computerized navigation system, and all six wheels can turn in any direction or be individually lifted for greater maneuverability. The craft also has two gears-first gear tops out at 3 miles (5 kilometers) an hour, while second gear can safely reach 12 miles (20 kilometers) an hour. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries allow the craft to venture up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) and back before needing a pit stop at a solar-power station.
"One of the more unusual innovations is a pair of slip-on space suits attached to the back of the pressurized cabin. Rather than taking up room with a full-size airlock, a "plainclothes" astronaut simply slides into an empty suit, pulls a lever to close the hatch and detach, and walks away.The process can then be done in reverse to re-enter the cabin."
The addition of the Chariot lunar rover suggests that NASA wants to give the next generation of astronaut/explorers far greater capabilities than the Apollo astronauts even dreamed of. The Chariot lunar rover (named for the similar vehicle depicted in the 1960s TV show Lost in Space?) would serve as a mobile home away from home for astronauts venturing from a lunar base to explore the lunar surface. Instead of the small jaunts that the Apollo astronauts were able to make, all less than five miles, the Chariot lunar rover has the range for what would be in effect expeditions to various parts of the Moon.
If future astronaut explorers were to put in place solar power "filling stations" at various points on the lunar surface, the range of the Chariot lunar rover would be greatly extended. The Chariot lunar rover could open up, eventually, a great deal of the Moon to exploration.
Source: New Moon Rover Mixes Old-School Smarts With Latest Tech, Victoria Jaggard, National Geographic News, October 23rd, 2008
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentFor those who think NASA and science is a waste of government money...research the federal budget. NASA's budget is a speck compared to other government agencies. Health & Human Services has almost 4x NASA's budget. The Dept of Education gets more than 3x NASA's budget. The ROI on your taxes spent on NASA is an outstanding investment. Consider that the next time there is an oil spill and PRP (a NASA spinoff that eatsoil biodegradabley) is used to clean it up. If the Dept of Ed could use its money as well as NASA, every US citizen would have a college degree after 12 years of school.
amazing read here,
People blame cristianity for not going to the moon and completly lack the world around them.
As I read here "I won't even get into why it's becoming more and more useless to throw money at third world countries to save them, it's not worth it anymore."
Its obviously clear, or you have a job at Nasa / Goverment / Boeing / or another company involved / or you dont know why you like paying tax.
But let me give you some more thoughts, i've seen the world visited many places. We are able to solve problems like food and drinking, by seriously investing in those countries. (like china does). You know it even costs less money to make friends then to make war.
In return you get profits trough trade routes. Those routes would benefit us more then going to the moon (its no trade route).
And before you think dont fund 3th world countries.. look at the dept of the dollar, we are heading real fast to become a country like that ourselves and thats no joke its the t
@why drive 62 miles ? It must be awesome to live in an area where your work, doctors, play, food, EVERYTHING you could EVER want is within 1 mile of your house! I personally have to drive 20 miles one-way to work but you are right this world does not need innovation in transportation. just riding a mule from place to place is perfect. have you ever left your home state? I guess not; all the states are the same as the first one, right? The point is that developing these technologies now will fuel the exploration of the universe even more. If we never go back to the moon or to any other planet we will never get closer to understanding our surroundings and as a creature we humans are innately intrigued with the questions and are driven to get the answer. Sorry if you are not a human or are one of the rare, close-minded extreme conservative Christians who still thinks the world is flat (thats all i see) and that the sun revolves around the earth but the rest of the population wants technol
Why drive 62 miles? Because it's something that hasn't been done before on the moon. I love when people instantly criticize things like this and suggest their own *better* alternatives. Go away, seriously. Stuff like this is what will bring us to Mars and possibly other planets and allow us to do more than just sit in some pod all day. It will enable us to actually explore and learn from being there. Saying that the first mile on any planet will be like all the rest is completely ignorant and shows you obviously don't understand any of this fully. I for one am happy NASA is working on these things to enable humans to get a larger presence in space. I won't even get into why it's becoming more and more useless to throw money at third world countries to save them, it's not worth it anymore.
Yeah or you could just stare at your navel all day and not do anything. There's always good reasons for not doing things - its the people that get out there and do something that make a difference.
You know I agree with you on wasteful government spending. They spend a fortune educating some people in this country and to no practical end! The money saved could be used to create useful portable energy generation devices that combine hydrogen and oxygen to make electrons flow. Wow if you could do that and produce clean water at the same time you could save the world! Now THAT would be a good use of government money. Instead I have to buy a Japanese fuel cell based vehicle from Honda to stop breathing 5 cancer causing chemicals every day!!!! Then the government can create a water based recyling system that can take pure H2O from any source(wow fractional distilation). You could put that in a bollte and make a fortune!
Perhaps if you landed at the wrong place, but otherwise i cannt imagine the need to drive 62 miles; there are no places to go there, no cities, no bars, there is only sand, sand and more sand. I asume you get bored there after diving the 1st mile, there is not much diffrence with the other 61 miles. So this makes me wonder, is it realy the people us who want to be there, or is it Boeing Nasa and others, who like to have big fundings and salaries and make other people believe that they want it.
ITs a waste of money in the end, its much more easy to make profit with those amounts of money here then it is there far far far away...
Some might claim that such things result in huge technological advancements.. just think twice its not realy required, and we also could use advancements in for example medical research, energy research etc... Hey you could even buy clean water generators for it and solve a lot of people in distress and potential next world conflicts about water. With those