What is an astronaut lunar scooter like? Equipped with a large AR screen, honeycomb tires and joystick controller

Focus

• 1

  The Toyota Lunar Concept has a panoramic view, an AR-powered instrument panel, and cameras and sensors that can detect craters such as rough terrain and craters on the moon.

• 2

  This car adopts honeycomb tires, which use the elastic structure of honeycomb mesh to replace the traditional pneumatic tire structure, completely avoiding the risk of wild punctures.

• 3

  The Toyota Moon Concept is equipped with an in-wheel motor, and instead of a steering wheel, the car is equipped with an excavator-like joystick controller.

• 4

  Toyota hopes that the six-wheeled self-driving lunar rover will land on the moon in 2029 and will be able to travel 10,000 kilometers on the lunar surface.

It's been more than 50 years since the last time humans walked on the moon, but in a little more than two years at most, we could return to the lunar surface.

As part of Artemis' Return to the Moon (Artemis), NASA hopes to send the first woman and first astronaut of color to the moon. According to the plan, NASA will eventually establish a lunar base by 2030.

However, if we are to live permanently on the moon, don't astronauts need transportation tools to move around the moon? Thus, the Toyota lunar rover came into being.

Figure 1: Toyota Lunar Concept Rover, which looks like an upgraded version of NASA's lunar rover in the 70s of the 20th century

The car is called the Baby Lunar Cruiser Concept, and it's just a concept car, but this electric SUV gives us a vision of the future, like an upgraded version of the lunar rover that actually landed on the moon in the 70s of the 20th century.

Figure 2: Toyota's Lunar Concept has a panoramic view, an augmented reality-driven dashboard, and cameras and sensors capable of detecting craters such as rugged terrain and craters on the moon

Figure 3: This car also has the Toyota logo on the grille and is equipped with an in-wheel motor, which will be controlled by a joystick

First of all, this concept car looks more like a car seen on Earth. But its biggest features are panoramic views, augmented reality-driven dashboards, and cameras and sensors that can detect craters such as rugged terrain and craters on the moon.

Figure 4: This car uses honeycomb tires instead of traditional pneumatic tires, completely avoiding the risk of a puncture in the wild

This car adopts honeycomb tires, which use the elastic structure of honeycomb mesh to replace the traditional pneumatic tire structure, completely avoiding the risk of wild punctures.

The car has the Toyota logo printed on the grille and rear wheels and is equipped with an in-wheel motor. Perhaps most excitingly, there is no steering wheel inside, but an excavator-like joystick controller.

The design of the Toyota lunar rover was inspired by Toyota's original FJ40 Land Cruiser and Lunar Cruiser, the latter of which was jointly developed by Toyota and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The six-wheeled self-driving lunar rover will land on the moon in 2029 and will be able to travel 6,200 miles (about 10,000 kilometers) on the lunar surface. The design is based on the idea that people can safely eat, work, sleep and communicate with others in their cars, and this can also be done in space.

Figure 5: The concept car was designed by CALTY Design Institute, a subsidiary of Toyota's global design division

This RV-like electric car can accommodate two people, allowing them to live and work inside for up to 14 days as they traverse the moon. It will be powered by Toyota's fuel cell technology. Compared with traditional battery technology, in special scenarios such as the moon, the advantages of fuel cell technology are more obvious.

Unlike the lunar rover, however, the Toyota lunar rover features a split tailgate design at the rear, and its adjustable space-frame seats promise premium interior agility and comfort. It even has a rear seat that folds up for extra passengers.

Figure 6: The design of the Toyota lunar rover is inspired by the Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser and the company's lunar rover developed in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Designed by the CALTY Design Institute (USA), a subsidiary of Toyota's global design department, this concept car incorporates many new technologies in addition to many design elements of the Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser.

Figure 7: Toyota's design is like an upgraded version of the lunar rover that landed on the moon in the 70s of the 20th century

For example, the roof of the FJ40 Land Cruiser was painted white to keep the interior cool in remote jungle or desert climates. CALTY's rover also has a white roof, which is especially important on the moon, where the highest temperature reaches 121 degrees Celsius and the lowest is minus 128 degrees Celsius.

At the same time, some of the revolutionary technologies used in this concept car are likely to end up in Toyota's future cars. Not only can they travel on alien planets, but they can also adapt to Earth's rugged terrain.

Figure 8: Toyota is also working with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to develop a lunar rover, which the company hopes will help people live on the moon by 2040 before colonizing Mars

Figure 9: This RV-like lunar rover can accommodate two people, allowing them to live and work in it for up to 14 days while traveling to the moon

CALTY's design commemorates the studio's 50th anniversary and coincides with the growing fascination of the Japanese with the moon.

Earlier this year, a Japanese start-up called iSpace tried to be the first private company to land on the moon, but its lunar lander crashed to the lunar surface.

So far, only four countries, the United States, the former Soviet Union, China and India, have achieved a moon landing.

Japanese businessman Tomosaku Maezawa, who filmed himself floating on the International Space Station in late 2021, has booked a trip around the moon by the SpaceX starship spacecraft.

As for Toyota, one of the company's engineers previously said: "It is our mission to send our car to the moon." Toyota is almost everywhere, but it's about taking our cars to places we've never been. ”