Audi to soon set its foot on the moon

Will Audi be the first car maker to build a rover that will scroll the lunar surface? Well, Audi is sure to set its foot on the Moon since they are now taking part in Google’s competition for Lunar XPrize. Audi will be providing technical expertise in building an unmanned rover that will land on the moon in 2017.

According to Gizmag, Google’s sponsored Lunar XPrize competition has 16 teams competing each other to build an unmanned rover, which encourages new space technology. The competition involves building, launching and landing the rover on the surface of the Moon by December 2017. The criteria for the competition is that the rover should make it safely, must then travel 500 meters while taking high-definition pictures along the way.

The report also mentions that the engineers from Germany and Austria have been working on building their rovers out of an award-winning lightweight aluminum. The engineers along, with Audi, will be building a rover for the competition and will be powered by hub-mounted electric motors and fuelled by lithium batteries and recharged by solar. The rover is being tested in the Austrian Alps and Tenerife. They have predicted a maximum speed of the rover to be around 3.6Kmph, even on the moon surface. It will feature stereo cameras along with a scientific camera on the front.

On its part, Audi will be adding to the project the technical know-how, using its Audi Concept Design Studio along with its quattro all-wheel drive technology and its experience in lightweight construction, electric mobility, and piloted driving. Audi is primarily supporting the team with its expertise in lightweight construction and e?mobility, with quattro permanent all?wheel drive and with piloted driving. The research group’s lunar vehicle has already been recognized during the course of the competition by a jury of aerospace experts with two Milestone Prizes.

The rover is being named ‘Audi lunar quattro’ and is scheduled to launch in 2017. The landing site for the lunar drop has been planned and it will be somewhere near the 1972 Apollo 17 mission landing site. However, there are reports that the landing site is protected by the law and is presently restricted for landing.

‘Audi is taking off for the moon – together with the Part-Time Scientists. Nearly 45 years after NASA’s Apollo 17 completed the last manned mission to the moon, the cooperating partners have selected the old landing site of Apollo 17 as the new target. The group of German engineers in the Part-Time Scientists team is working within the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition to transport an unmanned rover onto the moon. Audi is supporting the Part-Time Scientists with its know-how in several fields of technology – from quattro all-wheel drive and lightweight construction to electric mobility and piloted driving,’ mentions Audi on its official site. Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi Board Member for Technical Development: “We are pleased to support the project with our know?how in lightweight technology, electronics and robotics.”

The winner of the Google Lunar XPrize will be awarded a whopping USD 30 million.