Categories: Moon

Oh, the Places You’ll Go on the Moon!


NASA engineers have been putting prototypes of future moon buggies through the paces out at a field test in the Arizona desert lava fields. Here’s a video taken on Sept. 6 showing the capabilities of the Chariot B, and it’s pretty impressive. The Chariot features 12 wheels driven by two electric motors through a two-speed transmission. It can perform in a “bulldozer” mode with up to 1814 kg (4,000 pounds) of force or cruise at up to 24 kph (15 mph). Or, in this case, it can climb up extremely treacherous terrain. The modular design also means that the steel alloy frame can be fitted with several different crew and payload combinations, including a small pressurized cabin and a sample collector.

For more on the field tests, follow the Desert RATS on Twitter, and see more images of the Chariot and the Lunar Electric Rover (LER) on Flickr.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

Recent Posts

Here’s What We Know About Earth’s Temporary Mini-Moon

For a little over a month now, the Earth has been joined by a new…

17 minutes ago

New Study Suggests Black Holes Get their “Hair” from their Mothers

Despite decades of study, black holes are still one of the most puzzling objects in…

1 hour ago

Gaze at New Pictures of the Sun from Solar Orbiter

74 million kilometres is a huge distance from which to observe something. But 74 million…

1 hour ago

Are Fast Radio Bursts Caused by Interstellar Objects Crashing Into Neutron Stars?

Astronomers have only been aware of fast radio bursts for about two decades. These are…

6 hours ago

Here’s How to Weigh Gigantic Filaments of Dark Matter

How do you weigh one of the largest objects in the entire universe? Very carefully,…

8 hours ago

How Could Astronauts Call for Help from the Moon?

Exploring the Moon poses significant risks, with its extreme environment and hazardous terrain presenting numerous…

21 hours ago