However, Tesla Cybertruck looks like it comes from a science fiction movie, so through this design, it doesn't seem contradictory in rendering into a lunar rover or lunar probe.
Tesla pickup network truck
Bian Xiao is not sure whether Tesla pure electric pickup truck Cybertruck can land on the moon in the future. But what is certain is that there will be a Toyota hydrogen fuel car on the moon in the future.
Toyota's "Moon Landing" Plan
As early as 20 18, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officially announced their moon landing plan. What are the objectives? 2030? Landing on the moon in 2008 became the second country to land on the moon after the United States.
Japan seems a little confident. You know, China also plans to land astronauts on the moon around 2030. It is uncertain who will land on the moon first.
However, it is said that Japan has a fairly high level of technology in large rockets and unmanned space shuttles used to transport materials to the International Space Station. But for "manned", Japan has always relied on the technology of Russia and the United States. For this moon landing plan, Japan is more eager to travel around the moon with its own "means of transportation". Isn't it that Japan recently released the latest information of its own lunar rover-decided to name the lunar rover jointly developed with Toyota as "lunar cruiser"? Cruiser)-The name seems to indicate that it has some unusual off-road capabilities.
The research and development of the car is in progress, and the engineering and design plan is completed in 2024, and the release date is 2029. In other words, the car is scheduled to be completed by 2030.
The moon? What kind of lunar rover is Cruiser?
The surface of the moon is rugged. Astronauts wear heavy spacesuits and keep moving. And most of the scientific research work is geological exploration on the surface of the moon. It is necessary to carry tools such as shovels and pickaxes to collect moon rocks and soil samples from different places and bring them back to the lunar module. If there are cars on the moon, it will greatly facilitate lunar exploration. Therefore, in the earliest Apollo moon landing program, the design of lunar rover is of great value for lunar geological exploration.
So far, there are seven lunar rovers. Of these seven cars, three belong to the United States, two belong to the former Soviet Union, and the other two are Yutu No.1 and Yutu No.2 in China.
▲ the Soviet unmanned rover Moon- 1 landed on the moon in 1970.
▲ 197 1 Apollo 15 "lunar rover" brought to the moon by spacecraft.
▲ Yutu No.2 unmanned rover that arrived at the moon on June 3, 65438 this year.
These lunar rovers, whether unmanned or manned, are relatively simple in design and function (in fact, the lunar rover is n times more difficult to manufacture than the earth rover, which will be discussed in detail later). In contrast, Toyota's Lunar? Cruiser is undoubtedly more like a space car in a science fiction movie.
Appearance, structure
Judging from the video and renderings released by Toyota, this fuel cell lunar rover is more like an armored vehicle, with six-wheel design+fully enclosed+supercharged vehicle and body design.
According to the information, what is the length of this lunar rover? 20? Feet (6. 1? M), width? 17? Feet (5. 1? M), tall? 12.5? Feet (3.8? M), the overall volume is about twice that of a minivan, and it is expected to be able to ride? 2? People, and if there is an urgent need, you can also expand the number to? 4? People.
According to the plan, the lunar rover will be used as a small mobile space station, equipped with equipment for astronauts to work and live normally, and will be equipped with a pressurization system to allow astronauts to take off their spacesuits in the lunar rover.
Strength and endurance
In terms of power, the main power source of lunar rover is hydrogen fuel cell. A Toyota spokesman said that the project will give Toyota the opportunity to test its fuel cell technology in a harsh environment like the moon and transform the technology.
Some people may ask: Why is the fuel cell used as the power system of the vehicle instead of the pure electric drive of the battery? Because the emission of hydrogen fuel cells is water. In space, the importance of water goes without saying! The cruising range of this fuel cell lunar rover is 654.38+00,000 kilometers, so that during the long roaming on the surface of the moon, the fuel cell system of the vehicle will provide astronauts with endless water instead of drinking their own "urine (purification)" like astronauts now.
From the rendering, even though the lunar rover is driven by a fuel cell, it still shows a large deployable solar panel. This design is actually a common design in space. Whether it is a satellite or a starship, it is essential to supplement energy with solar energy. Solar panels can provide power and energy storage for batteries.
In terms of driving mode, it can be driven manually by astronauts, by remote control, and even equipped with automatic driving function to ensure that this fuel cell lunar rover can move on the surface of the moon sustainably. Even with the turn signal designed by the car, will the traffic on the moon be busy in the future?
Toyota lunar rover still has many problems to overcome.
JAXA plans to launch this car to the moon in 2029, which means that Toyota Motor Corporation still has nearly ten years to conduct research and development. If successful, this rover will be the first manned "car" made by an automobile manufacturer that can travel on planets other than the earth. However, although there are still ten years, but Toyota Lunar? Cruiser still has various problems with customer service.
1, lightweight problem
In space, weight is more important than anything. Because every kilogram of mass increases, it will consume more kilograms of fuel. Looking back at NASA's landing on the moon, the first use of the lunar rover was in the J-class mission-Apollo 15, and the quality became a problem. At that time, NASA set the upper mass limit of the lunar rover at 400 pounds (18 1 kg). To the frustration of engineers, the design goal has not been achieved. Actual weight 2 10 kg, overweight. Finally, NASA agreed to use the fan-shaped storage room of the lunar module to increase fuel after the design was compact enough.
Toyota's lunar rover weighs about 3000 kilograms, much heavier than Apollo. Therefore, if JAXA intends to send this Toyota to the moon, it needs a lander big enough and strong enough to land safely on the surface of the moon.
Fortunately, technology has made great progress now. Blue origin (by Amazon founder Jeff? Bezos (Jeffrey? Bezos (founded in 2000) has released a new generation of lunar lander Blue Moon (Blue? Moon) design draft. It is reported that the blue moon lander can transport materials weighing up to 4,500 kilograms (9,900 pounds) to the surface of the moon.
The spacecraft may also be used for NASA missions to the moon, such as going to the South Pole of the Moon in 2024. The design quality of Toyota lunar rover is within the transportation capacity of the blue moon lander and can be deployed to the surface of the moon.
2, temperature difference, moon dust, radiation and other issues
The environment of the moon is much worse than that of the earth. For example, the temperature difference between day and night is large, from-137℃ to+12 1℃, which requires the power system of the lunar rover to stand this test. Such as severe radiation. Because the earth has a magnetic field and atmosphere as a protective cover to protect people from deadly solar flares and radiation. Obviously, the radiation protection ability of the moon can't be compared with that of the earth, so this requires the lunar rover to have strong radiation protection ability.
In addition to radiation and temperature fluctuations, another key challenge on the moon is: lunar dust. . According to a research paper by NASA Johnson Space Center, every astronaut on the moon has reported the troubles caused by lunar dust. It mainly includes three aspects: (1) dust adhesion and wear; (2) Dust static electricity; (3) with dust. This very fine dust is very aggressive and active. Therefore, the stability and service life of instruments and equipment will be greatly reduced. In other words, the moon dust is everywhere, which is likely to cause machine failure. Because there is no Toyota dealer or 4S shop to repair it, the problem of "dust prevention" must be carefully tested when designing the Toyota lunar rover in the early stage.
Summary of electric pony:
Despite all kinds of challenges, Toyota lunar rover seems to be a pretty good concept. If it is realized, it will expand the research scope of future astronauts on the moon and become a key vehicle for lunar surface exploration.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.