NASA's New Lunar Rover, Now Testing In Arizona

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.)

Actually

[djupedal]

Perhaps Arizona's an even closer match to the moon's surface than is Texas, or Moses Lake, WA

It puts them closer to the University(s) that have been taking over many of the projects. For NASA, it is a budget thing - for the Unis', it works as a recruitment tool when the public is looking, and play-time when not...

Re:One concern...

[wegstar]

From the video here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081023-new-lunar-rover.html [nationalgeographic.com] The suits are attached the outside, and astronauts simply slip into the suits from the cabin. This quite ingenious design avoids introducing any speck dust into the cabin.

Re:Actually

[Hawthorne01]

IIRC, NASA used the terrain around Ajo [wikipedia.org] as testing grounds for the first lunar missions.

I've been to Ajo, I spent a week there one day. It's a perfect location for simulate the moon; rugged, desolate, and devoid of any signs of human habitation.

Re:Looks huge..

[cohensh]

Is that going up with the astronauts or sent in a separate launch?

The astronauts will go up on an Ares I rocket. The equipment for a moon landing, this included, as well as the Earth Departure Stage will go up in an Ares V. After they rendezvous in Earth orbit they will then go to the moon.

Re:One concern...

[ctetc007]

Actually, it will just reduce the dust problem by about half (maybe more, depending on how the suits are docked). The back half of the suit (backpack, etc) still enters the cabin before they doff their suits.

So while half to most of the dust problem has been eliminated, they are looking at things like static electricity to *almost* eliminate the rest of the dust. (Wish I had official sources, most of this info I learned from going to lectures as a JSC co-op).