Audi is flying to the moon: lunar rover began pre-flight

Well-known producer of like cars, Audi announced the beginning of the preparation of its Lunokhod Lunar Quattro for flight on Earth's natural satellite. Himself rover is ready and soon it's going to pass the group Part-Time Scientists , that and take part in the project Google Lunar XPRIZE.

Audi has long been cooperating with the team in a project to create its own lunar rover. Scientists have already done quite a lot to improve the design of the machine. For example, to facilitate the design, given the opportunity to remotely manage and added quattro-drive (thanks to which the rover got its name).



As for the project Google Lunar XPRIZE , its budget is about 30 million US dollars. For the award, the project applicant (it should be a company with private funding) must successfully deliver a rover to the moon and explore the first 500 meters of the way, providing record photos and videos of the moon high resolution.



The advantage of a rover wheel drive Audi technology and the ability to manage the device remotely. This rover will be launched to the moon by the end of 2017. In flight, the rover will be in about five days, NASA will make a landing near the landing site Apollnoa-17 in 1972.



Scientists who worked on the project of creating a new rover, the system frame made mostly of aluminum. The energy system will receive from the Sun, for which the device is equipped with solar panels. As mentioned above, an autonomous rover and all-wheel drive management system.

The maximum speed of the system will be about 3, 6 km / h. Lunokhod equipped with two stereoscopic cameras and a regular camera for scientific purposes.



As for the Fund Xprize , this premium fund to support the revolutionary innovation aimed at improving the life of all mankind. Prizes are awarded in four categories: energy and the environment (eng. Energy & Environment), the development of the surrounding area (Eng. Exploration), education and development (Eng. Education & Global development), Biology and Medicine (eng. Life Sciences). The fund comes from private donors and corporations.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/269194/