GM's hottest vehicle: Off-road, self-traveling rover for moon
General Motors is definitely teaming up with Lockheed Martin to produce the best off-road, self-driving, electrical vehicles - for the moon.
The project announced Wednesday is still in the early stages and has yet to score any NASA cash. However the goal is to design light yet rugged cars that will travel farther and more rapidly compared to the lunar rovers that carried NASA’s Apollo astronauts in the first 1970s, the companies said.
“Mobility is really likely to start the moon for us,” said Kirk Shireman, a good former NASA manager who's now Lockheed Martin's vice president for lunar exploration.
The rovers utilized by the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 moonwalkers ventured only 4 1/2 kilometers (7.6 kilometers) from their landers. GM as well helped design those cars.
NASA last year released a demand industry tips on lunar rovers. The space agency aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2024, a deadline set by the previous White House.
Their initial rovers will be made to carry two astronauts at the same time, according to company officials. A short company training video showed a large, open up rover speeding over lunar slopes, with more headlights in the length.
This is "only a glimpse of how exactly we see the chance playing out,” said Jeff Ryder, a vice president for GM Defense.
By operating autonomously when needed, Shireman noted, the rovers will keep astronauts safely from dangerous spots like the permanently shadowed craters at the moon’s Southern Pole. Frozen water collected from these dark corners could possibly be employed for drinking, growing crops and creating rocket energy.
Autonomy may possibly also improve efficiency, with astronauts centered on collecting rocks while a rover follows behind such as a puppy, he said.
In another venture begun two years ago, Toyota partnered with japan Space Agency to create a pressurized electric-powered lunar rover for astronauts. They're phoning it the Lunar Cruiser.
GM and Lockheed Martin's vehicle will come to be unpressurized, and therefore riders should wear spacesuits at all times. There's room for both styles, according to Shireman.
Source: japantoday.com
