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Rover to allow longer explorations
BLACK POINT (ARIZONA): NASA unveiled a new lunar rover which aims to transform space exploration by allowing astronauts to roam large distances
without cumbersome spacesuits when they return to the moon by 2020.
A team of scientists is testing the Small Pressurized Rover Concept vehicle — which resembles a small, futuristic recreational vehicle mounted on six sets of wheels — 12 in all — in trials in a rocky, barren corner of northern Arizona, selected for its similarities to the surface of the moon. “This is the next generation of lunar exploration,” said Doug Craig, Nasa program’s manager, as an astronaut took the vehicle for a spin over a broad lava field framed by craggy mountains.
The battery powered rover travels at speeds of up to 6mph. It is part of a range of systems and equipment being developed by the space agency for its planned return to the moon over the next decade.
Nasa hopes to build a permanent manned base on the moon’s surface as a prelude to subsequent exploration missions to Mars.
The new pressurized rover follows on from vehicles used by the Apollo series of moon shots in the early 1970s, when astronauts in spacesuits used rovers that looked like stripped-down jeeps to make short forays to gather rocks.
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Rover to allow longer explorations-Health/Sci-The Times of India |
