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JAXA/Toyota 'Lunar Cruiser'
The concept seems Large very big for Japan's launch ability and payloads but Japan has recently announced a Transformable Lunar Robot mission, folds up and then unfolds. This idea perhaps Assisting Development of the Crewed Pressurized Rover. The idea for a Japanese Manned Car/Rover has been around a while back in the days of NASDA, in year 2003, NASDA merged with the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) into one Independent Administrative Institution: the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
It seems like the Car or truck will be Put into flat space like origami then it assembles itself
Japan to send ‘transforming robot’ to the Moon in 2022
https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/27/ … oon_robot/
It’s a pathfinder for Toyota’s planned self-driving lunar buggy, and tiny compared to Optimus Prime
'The Lunar Cruiser name, which references the Toyota Land Cruiser SUV, will be used for the fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV). '
https://futurride.com/2020/08/28/jaxa-a … r-cruiser/
'The partners say that such a form of mobility is deemed necessary for human exploration activities on the lunar surface. Even with the limited amount of energy that can be transported to the moon, the pressurized rover would have a total lunar-surface cruising range of more than 10,000 km (16,100 km).'
https://hooktube.com/watch?v=4ASXWxQJneU
https://ytprivate.com/watch?v=4ASXWxQJneU
JAXA Vice President Koichi Wakata said: 'Lunar gravity is one-sixth of that on Earth.'
'Meanwhile, the moon has a complex terrain with craters, cliffs, and hills. Moreover, it is exposed to radiation and temperature conditions that are much harsher than those on Earth, as well as an ultra-high vacuum environment.
Auto makers reaching for the moon
https://www.rubbernews.com/automotive/a … ching-moon
As space agencies work toward returning humans to the planet's only natural satellite, a number of automotive giants are unveiling high-tech concept vehicles that—once built and tested—have a shot at transporting astronaut crews and payloads across the lunar surface by the late 2020s and early 2030s.
Such is the goal of Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's largest auto maker. The company in July 2019 signed on to a three-year joint research agreement with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, known as JAXA, to build a pressurized moon rover equipped with hydrogen fuel cells and six wheels.
A name “Space HiAce” is used in media
Also mentions in news reports of Hyundai Motor Group’s TIGER X-1 mobility concept, Audi, GM
'Audi and PTS officials did not respond to requests for a project update, but the companies previously indicated an intent to send the Lunar Quattro to touch down near the 1972 landing site of Apollo 17 and take 360-degree photographs on the moon.'
Running on a fuel cell, the lunar vehicle will only emit water and surplus air.
JAXA and Toyota have been working together to study the plan since May 2018.
Toyota gives its hydrogen-powered lunar rover a familiar name
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/08/31/toy … r-cruiser/
It's like a Land Cruiser for the Moon
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-07-26 05:37:07)
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The Old Lunar Roving Vehicle or Moon Buggy
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lu … o_lrv.html
some other Rover concepts some manned and some un-manned. We have the Japan Car linked above and more info https://www.techeblog.com/toyota-jaxa-lunar-rover-moon/ , the Motor company Audi has a Lunar Quattro Robot, flight to the Moon is planned for October 2021 onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 two-stage rocket https://mission-to-the-moon.com/press-r … index.html lithium-ion battery https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/ … tro-rover/ Two Lunar Quattro Rovers? https://drivemag.com/news/audi-will-hav … on-in-2018
Resource Prospector is a cancelled mission concept by NASA of a rover that would have performed a survey of Lunar areas for future manned missions? https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/27/1728 … ector-moon Scarab rover by the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University https://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/04 … -rovers-a/ HERACLES (Human-Enhanced Robotic Architecture and Capability for Lunar Exploration and Science) is a planned robotic transport system by Canada, Japan and Europe https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3843/1 Astrobotic Technology, a Pittsburgh-based company a Team Looking for the Lunar X-Prize. https://spacenews.com/astrobotic-adds-a … ts-lander/ The Scifi looking Robot ATHLETE (looks like a Spider on Skates it is a six-legged robotic lunar rover under development by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) designed, for maximum efficiency, to be able to both roll and walk over a wide range of terrains. https://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/syste … ?System=11
and of course we have the future possibility of Chinese or Russian based MoonCars from the design of the USSR/Russian Moon Rovers or China's unmanned mission to Mars.
South Korean could also be a possibility now putting a lot of money into its future space industries. 'Kari'
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-la … ssion.html
How different would a Mars Buggy be to a Moon-Buggy?
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2021-05-31 04:01:08)
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I might start another thread on the Lockheed/GM Moto concepts ???
Lockheed and GM team up for Lunar rovers for Artemis program
https://www.moondaily.com/reports/Lockh … m_999.html
"Surface mobility is critical to enable and sustain long-term exploration of the lunar surface. These next-generation rovers will dramatically extend the range of astronauts as they perform high-priority science investigation on the Moon that will ultimately impact humanity's understanding of our place in the solar system."
GM is a leader in battery-electric technologies and propulsion systems that are central to its multi-brand, multi-segment electric vehicle strategy, positioning the company for an all-electric future. Additionally, GM will use autonomous technology to facilitate safer and more efficient operations on the Moon.
"General Motors made history by applying advanced technologies and engineering to support the Lunar Rover Vehicle that the Apollo 15 astronauts drove on the Moon," said Alan Wexler, senior vice president of Innovation and Growth at General Motors. "Working together with Lockheed Martin and their deep-space exploration expertise, we plan to support American astronauts on the Moon once again."
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Japan Will Send a Baseball-Sized Transformer Robot to the Moon
https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7beng/japan-moon-rover
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More news on Japan Un-manned Vehicle ideas
https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/jaxa … nar-rover/
Japan wants to send a transforming spherical robot to the moon
Part of a future mission?
Plans for 2021 include manufacturing test parts for each technology element and manufacturing a prototype rover," a Toyota spokeswoman Carley Hummel confirmed.
NASA already issued calls for companies in the U.S. auto industry to submit ideas for "human-class" lunar rovers.
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2021-06-01 10:08:07)
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The thoughts of being able to move about on the moon or mars without a space suit in the comfort of shirt sleeves is something that is desirable. The pursuit of such a vehicle capable of containing us as we RV around is a must.
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"Japan aims to get Mars moon sample in fiscal 2029"
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210629_17/
The council aims to have the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, successfully launch a probe in fiscal 2024 to realize the plan of bringing back samples from Phobos to Earth five years later.
Only 5% of the Moon’s surface has been explored by humans...Lockheed Martin, General Motors Developing Autonomous Moon Rover
https://www.plasticstoday.com/automotiv … moon-rover
Human Life in Space, Automobile company in Japan to Create a "Renewable Energy System" in Space
the company Honda, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to study renewable energy for outer-space applications
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/honda-japan-a … 00655.html
old topic
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=13
Space Industrialization - Should a massive attempt at mining occur
Honda wants to go to the moon too
https://www.autoindustriya.com/auto-ind … n-too.html
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2021-06-29 07:02:24)
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Japan is joining the push to return to the moon
https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/ … o-the-moon
power supplies for next-generation electric rocket motors
https://bestjapantechnology.blogspot.co … -post.html
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The Porsche family, a German automobile dynasty
One of Europe’s Richest Families Is Joining the Billionaire Space Race
https://observer.com/2021/07/porsche-fa … ge-spacex/
The billionaire space race dominated by the Bezos-Musk-Branson trio now has a new participant: Europe’s Porsche family. Porsche SE, the holding company that controls Volkswagen, on Wednesday announced an investment in German rocket maker Isar Aerospace, a startup vying to challenge SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Group’s Virgin Orbit in the booming business of low-cost satellite launch service.
Porsche SE is joined by the venture capital company HV Capital and Swiss bank Lombard Odier to invest $75 million a funding round that values Isar at $550 million. In exchange, Porsche SE would receive a “a low single-digit percentage stake” in the company.
Although a half-a-billion-dollar valuation pales in comparison with the scale of SpaceX and Blue Origin—SpaceX was most recently valued at $76 billion; Blue Origin receives $1 billion in fresh capital every year from Bezos—it’s a sizable amount for a company barely three years old with zero track record.
Since its inception in 2018, Isar has raised a total of $180 million in venture capital funding from investors including Airbus’s VC arm and Bülent Altan, a former satellite mission executive at SpaceX.
Isar plans to launch its first test flight next year with a launch vehicle called “Spectrum.” In May, the company was awarded a contract by Germany’s space agency to launch two government satellites into low Earth orbit.
The Porsche funding “will allow Isar Aerospace to further invest in its launch, testing, and manufacturing infrastructure for its largely automated rocket production and commercial operations,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Unlike SpaceX and the smaller Rocket Lab that specialize in reusable boosters, Isar’s core strategy to reduce launch cost is to automate the rocket production process.
“We are convinced that cost-effective and flexible access to space will be a key enabler for innovations in traditional industries as well as for new and disruptive technologies and business models,” Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of Porsche SE, said in a statement.
Porsche SE is controlled by the related Porsche and Piëch families. Porsche’s founder, Ferdinand Porsche, is the designer of the original VW Beetle. His grandson, Ferdinand Piëch, became the chairman of Volkswagen in 1993.
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This Lunar Rover Takes Inspiration From The Skodas
https://www.carandbike.com/news/this-lu … ar-2626914
Electric lunar rover LUNIAQ unveiled by XTEND design in europe's largest VR laboratory
https://www.designboom.com/design/elect … 1-17-2021/
previous discussion on newmars in year 2004 & 2005, keep in mind a lot of this discussion goes back to the George Bush jnr vision for Mars years and 16-17 years is a long time. This discussion was before we generally accepted that think could be folded up like the JWST or Origami, or that we would have SpaceX and China advancing and going for Mars or the advances in Western ideas in 3D printing tech
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=3477
it has been updated with more recent discussion
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2021-11-28 07:32:45)
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I like the rover look and for the moon its got the port to go in and out is at the height of the habitats
https://static.designboom.com/wp-conten … a09d5.jpeg
The like to the Rv'ing the mars sure is the right way to explore mars not in a space suit.
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Japan wants a JAXA astronaut to be first "non-American" to join a NASA lunar landing
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'Japan to Put Astronaut on Moon in Late 2020s: Kishida'
https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2021122800474/
Nissan rolls out driverless buggy to traverse dusty lunar surface
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14493743
Imagine that one day we might engineer some kind of Eukaryote satellite or Bambuseae or maybe or Dracaena or Asparagale or Organic Crustacean Spacecraft that is actually alive, but people or other plants live inside this Hibernating-Space-Whale-Tree that is pushed across the planets and stars?
I wasn't sure where to post this and wonder if this could be posted in some life support or perhaps fringe ideas topic it seeems the Japanese plan the launch of an organic wooden satellite. The Japanese are know for their experimenting ideas like their Asteroid Mission and 'Solar Sail'.
It seems that one day some kind of Organic satellite or Bioship we read in scifi books or see in scifi movies might one day become a thing, there are possibly things organically strong enough to survive space for example tardegrades are possibly on the Moon however it's very unlikely they'll be able to spring back to life without being reintroduced to water. The Japanese say a satellite whose exterior is made of wood burn up upon re-entry creating less burden on the environment, according to the Japan university and forestry team. The Japanese astronaut Takao Doi, plans to attach to the apparatus wooden sheets with varying hardness, taken from several tree species. They laos say that using wood will also not be a problem owing to the ability of electromagnetic waves to penetrate through this allows mounting of an antenna inside. There is also experimental apparatus of the International Space Station where the wooden sheets will be exposed to space conditions for nine months, the Japanese claim wood will be more cost effective.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20 … sc/002000c
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14439277
In our fictional entertainment worlds the idea for organic ships feature in Robert Heinlen's scifi books, the tv show Joe Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5 and Farscape and the Star Trek TNG episode 'Tin-Man', Peter F. Hamilton's The Night's Dawn Trilogy and many comicbook worlds and video game worlds, they probably also feature in many Japanese cartoons.
A satellite whose exterior is made of wood will burn up upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere after the end of its operation, giving less burden on the environment, according to the team comprised of Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry Co.
In addition, it will be cheaper to make than using aluminum, the current mainstream material for a satellite. Because electromagnetic waves can penetrate wood, the satellite can contain an antenna inside.
The researchers plan to conduct experiments from December at the International Space Station to gauge the deterioration rate of various types of timber in space.
The planned satellite’s semiconductor substrate will be made of silicon, metal, plastic and other materials.
But its body, which measures 10-11 centimeters on each side, will be made of wood.
The scientists said no deterioration was detected in the quality of Japanese big-leaf magnolia, hinoki cypress and cedar trees after they were left for about three years in a lab with an atmospheric pressure equivalent to a location 100 kilometers high.
In the project, the scientists will study how space affects wood by exposing three varieties of trees with different hardness--Japanese big-leaf magnolia, mountain cherry and Erman’s birch--outside of the ISS for about six months.
Satellite fuselages are now mostly made of aluminum. Those satellites are designed to burn up when they re-enter the atmosphere after completing their missions.
But the burning process still disperses extremely small aluminum particles of several micrometers, which have the potential to damage ascending rockets.
There also are concerns that those tiny particles could affect the Earth’s climate, according to Takao Doi, an astronaut and professor in the Unit of Synergetic Studies of Space at Kyoto University.
“If the volume of those particles in space increases, they could deflect more sunlight, contributing to extreme climate events around the globe, such as unusually high temperatures in some parts and the opposite in other areas,” he said.
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-01-01 18:31:59)
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The big thing is once we do get to the lunar surface once more are we going to stay going or say been there done that.
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Some more on the Nissan Rover, the vid shows an unammed rover like Spirit and Oppy but the wheels are like a car wheel you see on Earth.
Nissan Lunar rover with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [video]
https://electriccarsreport.com/2021/12/ … ncy-video/
JAXA Director of the Space Exploration Innovation Hub Center, Ikkoh Funaki describes the research: “JAXA aims to apply the research results to future space exploration. We are collaborating with companies, universities and research institutes on projects that are feasible and have potential for commercialization and innovation. By conducting research with Nissan, which has expertise in electrified technologies, we hope to apply our findings to the development of higher-performance lunar rovers.”
Toshiyuki Nakajima, general manager of the Advanced Vehicle Engineering Department in charge of e-4ORCE control development at Nissan, says: “The uses of automobiles and driving situations are wide-ranging. We aim for the ultimate driving performance through our research and development, and believe the knowhow gained from this joint research with JAXA will lead to innovations in our vehicles that will bring benefits to customers.
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It's cool to see some automotive technology finally applied to a rover design. That's who should be designing these rover vehicles.
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Sierra Space to study Dream Chaser landings in Japan
https://spacenews.com/sierra-space-to-s … -in-japan/
Toyota unveils insane lunar rover designs with robotic arms
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/84266/to … index.html
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Astrolab unveils Artemis lunar rover design
https://spacenews.com/astrolab-unveils- … er-design/
Among those who drove FLEX in the test was former astronaut Chris Hadfield, who emphasized in a statement the value of mobility for future long-duration lunar exploration and settlement. “It was not only a joy to drive FLEX but also see its size, capability and get an intuitive sense of what this rover can do,” he said.
Venturi Astrolab revealed March 10 its work on a rover called Flexible Logistics and Exploration, or FLEX, that is intended to carry cargo or astronauts. The rover is designed to accommodate up to 1,500 kilograms of cargo, placed above or below a main deck, and either be driven remotely or by two astronauts on board.
Jaret Matthews, founder and chief executive of Astrolab, said in an interview that his company created FLEX to address a near future of lunar exploration where both crewed landers like SpaceX’s Starship and robotic landers for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program deliver large amounts of cargo.
Matthews said Astrolab has been developing its vehicle with the LTV competition in mind. That includes designing the rover to meet anticipated NASA requirements like the ability to operate for an eight-hour moonwalk, be able to work at the lunar south pole and survive the lunar night there, and be able to operate for 10 years.
NASA Eyes Electric Car Tech for Future Moon Rovers
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti … on-rovers/
Space agencies are partnering with car manufacturers to custom build new rovers—or retrofit commercial vehicles—for future missions to the moon and Mars
The crewed lunar terrain vehicle should be designed to last at least a decade, according to NASA’s requirements. It would support a bevy of one- and two-week missions, and it could even explore the surface of the moon autonomously between human visitations. Moreover, its design would set the standard for subsequent generations of surface vehicles built to support notional future human landings on Mars.
Another discussion
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=7387
Light weight rover for Mars
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-03-10 19:19:21)
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Japan Manufactures 45% of Industrial Robots in Global Market
http://www.koreaittimes.com/news/articl … xno=111679
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Nissan, NASA aim to ditch rare, pricey metals in solid-state batteries
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Direct methanol fuel cells would be a good option for powering such a vehicle. The propellants (liquid O2 and methanol) can be stored as liquids. The combustion products (water and CO2) can also be stored as liquids. The products can be regenerated into methanol and oxygen using a small propellant plant. The energy needed to do this could be provided by an RTG or solar array. The vehicle could return to a stationary solar plant to recharge itself.
Last edited by Calliban (2022-04-12 06:28:20)
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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Japanese railway company creates massive VR controllable robots
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GM's newest vehicle: Off-road, self-driving rover for moon
https://infotel.ca/newsitem/gms-newest- … on/it83276
Nissan announces it is designing a Lunar Terrain Vehicle for NASA alongside Teledyne and Sierra Space
https://electrek.co/2022/04/05/nissan-a … rra-space/
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2022-05-08 05:06:32)
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Japan, U.S. to cooperate on Moon landing by Japanese astronaut
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With U.S. help, Japan wants to go from player to power in space
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