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NASA's New Lunar Rover in Action

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wed Mar 26, 2008 08:34 AM
from the can-i-drive-it-to-the-mall dept.
Moon Space NASA
holy_calamity writes "New Scientist has video of Nasa's new Chariot lunar rover in action on simulated moon surface in Houston. As the associated story explains, the two-ton "truck" has a top speed of 20km/hour and is currently fitted with a plough, with additional back hoe and drill attachments to come. Sure it's not glamorous — more of a lunar tractor — but sure looks handy for establishing that permanent moon base NASA wants."
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story

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[+] NASA Considers Plans for Permanent Moon Base 353 comments
el crowbar sent us a link to an MSNBC article detailing NASA's plans for a moon base. The permanently staffed structure could begin construction sometime in 2010, with six-month duty rotations the norm by 2025. Interestingly, the space agency is looking far afield for technical expertise. Consultants on the project include individuals from Caterpillar, Norcat, Boeing, and other manufacturing concerns. Right now the only detail for placement and purpose is 'on the rim of a crater near one of the poles', but the article outlines a few other ideas that enterprising individuals have in mind for a moon base. Besides helium-3 mining and lunar hotels, do you have any good ideas for a moon base startup?
[+] NASA to Demonstrate Moon Rover 98 comments
coondoggie writes "NASA will this week demonstrate its lunar robot rover equipped with a drill designed to find water and oxygen-rich soil on the moon. NASA said the engineering challenge of building such as drilling system was daunting because a robot rover designed for prospecting within lunar craters has to operate in continual darkness at extremely cold temperatures with little power. The moon has one-sixth the gravity of Earth, so a lightweight rover will have a difficult job resisting drilling forces and remaining stable.The project is just one demonstration of the collaboration NASA is utilizing to bring together its next moon shot. For example, Carnegie Mellon was responsible for the robot's design and testing, and the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology built the drilling system. NASA's Glenn Research Center contributed the rover's power management system. NASA's Ames Research Center built a system that navigates the rover in the dark. The Canadian Space Agency funded a Neptec camera that builds three-dimensional images of terrain using laser light, NASA said."
Submission: NASA's new lunar rover in action by holy_calamity (872269)
[+] NASA's New Lunar Rover, Now Testing In Arizona 59 comments
MarkWhittington writes "NASA has unveiled a new prototype lunar rover, called the Chariot, a production version of which is hoped to be operational on the lunar surface by 2019. NASA is now testing the Chariot lunar rover in Arizona, on terrain that resembles the lunar surface." Perhaps Arizona's an even closer match to the moon's surface than is Texas, or Moses Lake, WA where NASA was testing the last time we mentioned Chariot. (Here's a bit of video from the Texas round.)
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NASA's New Lunar Rover in Action 50 Comments More /

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  • Simulated surface (Score:5, Funny)

    by chrisjwray (717883) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @08:39AM (#22868576)
    I wonder if this is the same simulated surface where the original landings were filmed.

    • Re:Simulated surface (Score:5, Funny)

      by oni (41625) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @08:50AM (#22868682) Homepage
      no, the original landings were filmed in Area 51, but that whole region is now a radioactive wasteland, so now they've actually had to move the *testing* to the moon, so that the public doesn't know Earth has been polluted.

      It's easy to see through NASA's lies. Why are there no clouds in the sky in this footage? Answer: it's because they're on the moon, and they added in the blue sky using Adobe Aftereffects, but they couldn't make realistic clouds so they left those out.

      Why didn't the rover kick up little clouds of dust? Answer: because there's no air on the moon.
    • No, I'm pretty sure the original soundstage was destroyed by the mobsters that hired Lee Harvey in a black helicopter training exercise. The mobsters were inexperienced with operating the super stealthy aircraft, and when they tried to lift the loch ness monster with a couple, they dropped the monster, destroying the original forever.

      Original Fake Moon Landing Sound Stage [wikipedia.org]... it's the truth.

  • But does it have a gun rack? (Score:5, Funny)

    by UberHoser (868520) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @08:41AM (#22868596)
    Also all the other things a "truck" in Houston should have.

    *Gun Rack
    *Redneck Bumper stickers
    *Shiney nude girl mudflaps
    *A Wooden Back bumper (Usually 4x8)
    *Empty Bud cans on the floor
    *A Nascar Sticker on the Back window. #3 or #8) or both !
    *Marlboro boxes everywhere.
    • Hey! Just one damn minute!

      Technically speaking that's a pair of 4x8's held together with deck screws. One 4x8 ain't gonna do shit in an accident.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Knitebane (64590)
      It's #88 now you insensitive clod!

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by mikael (484)
      Redneck Bumper stickers



      "If you can read this, I've lost my trailer."

      "I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe."

      "Honk If Parts Fall Off"

      "Chrome don't get ya home"

      "If you can read this - you're too damn close!"
    • Has to have the GD Texas state flag being displayed, a bumber sticker that says "proud to be a texan" and another saying "the south will rise again". Of course, this is NASA. When I taught there, nearly all said that they love NASA, but hate Texas.

  • Lunar base (Score:5, Funny)

    by PodissRT (914949) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @08:46AM (#22868626)

    As the associated story explains, the two-ton "truck" has a top speed of 20km/hour and is currently fitted with a plough, with additional back hoe and drill attachments to come. Sure it's not glamorous -- more of a lunar tractor -- but sure looks handy for establishing that permanent moon base NASA wants.
    It looks handy for establishing the moon base, and knocking out its fiber optics.
  • It seems like new lunar tractor can drive forward in any orientation. That is pretty cool.

  • Vital component (Score:4, Funny)

    by HangingChad (677530) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @09:00AM (#22868784) Homepage

    and is currently fitted with a plough...

    Vital for those sudden lunar snow storms.

  • I guess it's cheaper for NASA to fund simulated moon action than real Mars action [google.com].

  • Energy Shields Activate! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bwak (1259494) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @09:03AM (#22868800)
    Maybe this has been discussed before on another thread, but how the heck do you protect your buildings that are completely exposed to the elements of space? Without an atmosphere to burn up or dismantle most of what comes at it, is there really a plausible way to shield your structures from essentially anything at any speed? Hopefully some of the space guys can shed some light on this for me.

    • Re:Energy Shields Activate! (Score:5, Informative)

      by confused one (671304) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @09:43AM (#22869166)

      Probability on an impact is fairly low. Still would be a consideration which probably results in building (initial) permanent settlements underground. Radiation is a bigger concern, since lethal doses are possible every time energy from an x class solar flare hits the lunar surface.

      Build your shelter then cover it with lunar regolith.

      Burrow tunnel and build shelter underground

      Dig into side of crater and build shelter into crater wall.

      your choice. Simply Choose one

      There's always risk. Every 100 years or so a rock big enough to do considerable damage gets through Earth's atmosphere. Every few years a storm big enough to do considerable damage hits a major population center. Hell, we live on a molten ball of rock with a crust that's only 30 or so miles thick. Tomorrow the east coast of the U.S. (where I live) could be wiped out by a tsunami.

  • Back ho? (Score:5, Funny)

    by sm62704 (957197) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @09:11AM (#22868862) Journal
    They got ho's on the moon? Sign me up!

  • Legitimate Question. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2008, @09:15AM (#22868886)
    Why do we not try and 'pave' parts of the moon we want to land on? Ok, granted it'd probably be pretty difficult (rocket science and all that...) to land in the exact same 30m x 30m grid every time, but the point remains. If we have so many concerns about moon dust and what damage it can cause, why don't we solidify a large section of the top layer?

    I refuse to believe I'm the first person to suggest this, but I have yet to see it mentioned anywhere else.

    My suggestion, since that's what your thinking at this point, is some type of ceramic.
  • It would be interesting to automate this and then send a couple of these to a moon to start work ahead of time.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by TomRC (231027)
      Well DUH!

      We could have been doing THAT for the past 30 years or so using tele-operated robots. By now we'd have a substantial robotic base, likely mining lunar water to make rocket fuel and lunar soil to make fuel tanks. But all that would've done is cut the cost of space missions about in half, while greatly advancing the state of robotics.

      Who'd want any of that?!

  • Looks fairly stable, but... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TomRC (231027) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @10:22AM (#22869612)
    I think it really needs a roll-bar or cage to protect the lunar worker. Our terrestrial intuitions about what looks stable may not be accurate for the mooon.

    • I think it really needs a roll-bar...

      Sweet, then you'd have something to mount the KC lights and flag on. (So glad it wasn't being tested up north where I'm sure there's not as much to make fun of)

      Seriously though, when I saw the video I was wondering what goes into determining dynamic stability of a vehicle when you're tooling around in less gravity. I thought it seemed like the outer set of wheels could be raised/lowered, but maybe that was just an illusion caused by it running across uneven ground.

      I'

    • Except that here on earth, we don't design such things by intuition. We design them by calculating the centre of gravity, tipping forces, etc... etc... The equations don't change by changing the name of the planetary body the machine operates on.
  • I'm all for space exploration, but a base on the moon just sounds like ISS Deluxe to me, a huge money sink for NASA's strained budget?

    What is the enormous science potential for an as far reaching project like that? At least on Mars, we haven't set foot there before and it's still a curious planet with lots of unknowns, but our Moon has already been studied -- from the surface itself as well as from above.

    Is it mostly just a stepping stone to Mars? Do we really have to have a Moon station there first? Becaus
    • What is the enormous science potential for an as far reaching project like that?

      Well three things:
      1. As you probably know, bone loss is quite rapid in zero-G. Astronauts who stay in orbit for six months or more have to be pulled out of the capsule and put into a wheelchair when the return to Earth. So far, even after all the time spent on ISS, nobody has come up with an exercise regimen that really helps. There's real concern that we may not be able to go to Mars *ever* (for sufficiently small values of

  • I've actually laid hands on this thing, (Score:4, Informative)

    by pecosdave (536896) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @10:58AM (#22870124) Homepage Journal
    If anyone is interested, here's some pics [geeksofrage.com] my coworkers and I took. Plus a few more pages of crud.

  • Here we go again (Score:3, Funny)

    by hcdejong (561314) <{ln.tensmx} {ta} {emca}> on Wednesday March 26 2008, @11:12AM (#22870332)
    That's no moon!

  • 1982 wants its video game back! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RobertB-DC (622190) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @11:19AM (#22870422) Homepage Journal
    From TFA:
    Independent steering on each of its six pairs of wheels... give the vehicle the ability to raise or lower each individual wheel to keep its chassis level on uneven ground.

    I've remotely driven that *exact* sort of vehicle! Well, in simulation [klov.com], at least. I just can't believe it took from 1982 to now to go from simulator to prototype.

    And they still didn't get the forward and vertical blasters! Hokey plows and an ancient drill bit are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.
  • Granted, weight is not a good unit here, as the moon's gravity is around 1/4 that of the earth's (I think). But the machine looks pretty light-weight to me, especially in terms of construction equipment. How practical would this thing be? I can only see it being used as something to move a person from point A to point B. Imagining how it would use a plow is stretching my imagination.
    • The dirt it has to push around is also 1/4 weight.
      • But the bonds that shape the form of the surface are just as strong. The loose stuff will be able to move just as easily, but the stuff barely sticking out of the ground won't. Put a flag pole in the ground, exposing only the top foot (the rest is buried underground.) The flag pole will weigh 1/4 of its amount on Earth, but you're still going to need the same amount of force to break off that foot that's sticking above ground.

  • Russia had impressive Rovers in 1970s (Score:4, Informative)

    by peter303 (12292) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @12:44PM (#22871450)
    They [wikipedia.org] were nuclear powered to survive the 14-day night, drove tens of kilometers. At that time computers werent too powerful, so these were intereactively controlled (2 sec delay) with live telemetry.
  • I wonder if NASA does a good enough job, if Bigelow will be allowed to purchase a few of these? They already bought the rights from NASA for their space station. The idea is to put it on the moon surface. I could see them looking over this truck and buying at least the rights, if not a number of these. Then they could run it remotely and prepare a landing site for their station. Keep in mind that they are looking to bury it in dirt (either in a hole, or by pushing dirt on top of it).
    • We'd get back on the moon real fast if we just allowed more corporate sponsorship. I'm starting to suspect Lunartics [youtube.com] is the future of space exploration.
    • They'd be able to succeed if there weren't luddites like you cutting their budget.
      • I'm not a luddite. I'm just not a dreamer who throws money at wasteful and pointless programs just to show up some commies.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by elrous0 (869638) *
        No, they've spent the last 35 years just doing enough to justify their budget each year and making grandiose promises to keep people interested. They know damn well they're not going to the moon or Mars. It's all just PR and budget hearings for them now.

    • Re:'...Currently fitted with a plough' (Score:5, Informative)

      by carambola5 (456983) on Wednesday March 26 2008, @09:51AM (#22869252) Homepage
      Your comment was obviously tongue-in-cheek, but there are reasons for a plow. First is for infrastructure: it's useful to push off all of the fluffy regolith (moon dirt) to get to the compacted stuff when you want to drive moon buggies and such things.

      More interesting (for me, at least) is for excavation. The plow is used to strip the top layer of loose regolith so that a mining attachment can dig up the compacted stuff. There is evidence of water ice near the poles as well as He-3, so an effective cutterhead and muck retriever could collect resource-laden material. I just so happen to be lead mechanical engineer on such a Chariot-attachable mining module. :)

    • With a 65,000 kg payload capacity on the Ares V [wikipedia.org] it is likely that they won't depend on farming to sustain a lunar base. Especially since the Earth-Moon voyage takes less than a week. However, I speculate that the 6 month Earth-Mars trip would be a compelling reason to push for farming capability so that future visitors don't have to rely so heavily on Earth supplied resources to survive.

      As far as having a plough... well that is just necessary for clearing the lunar landscape so that any long-term platfo

    • And just hand them the opportunity to live on another world? Screw that. Give the opportunity to some of the most gifted minds of science and engineering.

      Like me. :)

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