Nasa's new moon buggy in action - video footage

Here's a video I just found of Nasa's new moon buggy. Apparently they're going to send two of these up at a time.

Moon Buggy Footage

So it can cover 1000km's, has life support, a pressurised airlock and complex hydraulics etc. The batteries alone must take 3/4's of the vehicle!

[edit on 16/1/09 by vonspurter]

wow, that thing is huge! They say they will have 2 of them?? I would love to know how they are going to get them onto the moon in the first place????

Originally posted by WatchNLearn
wow, that thing is huge! They say they will have 2 of them?? I would love to know how they are going to get them onto the moon in the first place????

Rockets, a rocket for the crew, a rocket for the lander, a rocket for the buggy, a rocket for the base, pretty much a rocket for every separate thing.

I know it sounds silly when back in the day we had just one rocket for everything, but this is a whole new thing, it's one step away from colonizing the moon.

Well, not counting the D.U.M.B. that's already there, of course, if you believe that there is one that is, not saying you do, but I like to keep an open mind about this sort of thing.

Reminds me of Armageddon when their on the astroid.

That thing doesn't look like it could make it over a speed bump! Are they going to pave the moon as they go?

Looks goofy as hell. Oh it will be in Obama's inauguration parade...wow...so impressive....so awsome....(YAWWNN).

Just something else millions if not billions of dollars got dumped into. Doesnt anyone think that we should get back to the Moon first, build a base first before building these Moon rovers?

The normal procedure is A. B. C. D. E. F....1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on....Not A, G, K, Z or 1, 5, 7, 9....




Cheers!!!!

Looking at it again I do have to agree... It looks a little unstable for off road lol.

But its Nasa. It probably takes off once they get there and flys to Mars. While we watch some RC camera on the moon lol.

Originally posted by RFBurns
Just something else millions if not billions of dollars got dumped into.

If you're really that annoyed by the amount that gets spent at NASA, check out the Defense budget. Seriously, NASA gets peanuts by comparison.

Doesnt anyone think that we should get back to the Moon first, build a base first before building these Moon rovers?

Uh, no. Why would you want to design and build a Lunar rover after establishing a base? You'd want them ready to go as soon as possible, so better start now, incase of problems durring the design and testing.

reply to post by RFBurns


Not much point spending billions of dollars going to the moon if you are unabled to complete basic research. Billions of dollars? NASA's entire budget is billions of dollars, and they have other commitments than spending 'billions of dollars' on a bunch of cars. Where exactly did you get this rediculous statistic?

If you're really that annoyed by the amount that gets spent at NASA, check out the Defense budget. Seriously, NASA gets peanuts by comparison.

NASA's budget overall, is one of the few things in the federal budget that has consistently gotten less funding after each successive year. Like any aerospace group, whoever gets the funding, gets the technology; just like NASA did with the moon landings. Now people whine and whine about NASA not going to the moon, yet complain about them receiving too much money. That is the issue, funding; they need more, to do what you want. It's impossible to keep the money and go to the moon.

[edit on 17/1/2009 by C0bzz]

I think the new moon buggy, the Small Pressurized Rover, is uber cool. Imagine sitting in your shirtsleeves, driving across the Moon's (or Mars') surface! I just wish I could ride along with the future astronauts.

And regarding money and funding... Does anyone know just how much money Mr. Bush and company have spent on warfare and killing a lot of innocent people? Somehow I have the impression that it is a LOT more than NASA is spendng on their space missions...

Anyway, another absolutely amazing piece of technology for future space exploration is this guy, the "centaur" robonaut:

Robonaut is a humanoid robot designed by the Robot Systems Technology Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center in a collaborative effort with DARPA. The Robonaut project seeks to develop and demonstrate a robotic system that can function as an EVA astronaut equivalent. Robonaut jumps generations ahead by eliminating the robotic scars (e.g., special robotic grapples and targets) and specialized robotic tools of traditional on-orbit robotics. However, it still keeps the human operator in the control loop through its telepresence control system. Robonaut is designed to be used for "EVA" tasks, i.e., those which were not specifically designed for robots.

Robonaut's head is still a work in progress, but the existing system includes an articulated neck that allows the teleoperator to point Robonaut's camera as eyes. The head's two small color cameras deliver stereo vision to the operator's helmet display, yielding a form of depth perception. The inter-ocular spacing of the cameras is matched to typical human eye spacing, with a fixed vergence at arm's reach. The neck drives are commanded using a 6 axis Polhemus sensor mounted on the teleoperator's helmet, and can track the velocities of typical human neck motions. Like the arms, the neck's endoskeletonis covered in a fabric skin, which is fitted into and under the helmet.

Robonaut's hands will be able to fit into all the required places and operate EVA tools like this tether hook. Joint travel for the wrist pitch and yaw is designed to meet or exceed the human hand in a pressurized glove. The hand and wrist parts are sized to reproduce the necessary strength to meet maximum EVA crew requirements. EVA space compatibility separates the Robonaut Hands from many others. All component materials meet outgassing restrictions to prevent contamination that could interfere with other space systems.

Learn more about the "centaur" here:
robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov...





[edit on 17/1/09 by ziggystar60]

Originally posted by RFBurns
...Doesnt anyone think that we should get back to the Moon first, build a base first before building these Moon rovers?

No. I don't.

While it's true that the whole point of this new Moon program is to establish a base on the Moon in preparation for doing the same on Mars, we will need to Rovers to actuall help us explore the Moon enough to establish the best places to put a Moon Base.

Why would you build a Moon base, then start building one of the very tools you could have used to establish those bases. That would be like building a house without a hammer, then after it's done finally deciding to buy a hammer becuase you could use one in your workshop.