NASA's New Lunar Rover, Now Testing In Arizona 59
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.)
Stories like these (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:One concern... (Score:3, Insightful)
It's all cool and dandy, but from TFA:
"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."
What about the dust? Everything I've read about lunar mission states lunar dust is super powdery and could be a real bitch in a pressurized environment...
This way is actually much better. During the apollo missions the dust came into the LM with the suits. If the suits actually stay outside the inside of the rover will be very clean. The suits will need maintenance but this could be done outside in vacuum.
Actually, not that ingenious (Score:1, Insightful)