Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
NASA's Chariot Is Not Your Father's Moon Rover
The NASA Chariot is a lunar truck prototype created to service the future US lunar outpost. Developed by the Exploration Technology Development Program's Human-Robotics Systems Project in just eleven months, the vehicle is designed to meet the payload transport, range, terrain and speed specifications defined by NASA’s Lunar Architecture Team.
(NASA Chariot rover video)
The Chariot's chassis can be reconfigured for a variety of purposes and payloads. It can carry a mix of suited crew and payload; it can also be outfitted with a small pressurized cabin.
The pilot's control pedestal can rotate 360 degrees; the Chariot has no "front" or "rear." According to Johnson Space Center roboticist Rob Ambrose "The Apollo astronauts couldn't back up at all because they couldn't see where they were going in reverse." The vehicle itself has a zero turn radius - it can turn around entirely within its own length.
NASA's Chariot is also the first lunar drop deck lowboy - take a look at the Chariot with the chassis dropped right down to the ground for easy loading and unloading.
(NASA Chariot shown here dropped to the ground)
The specifications for Chariot were set forth as follows:
| Chariot Spec | Earth Prototype | Lunar System |
| Payload | 1000 kg | 3000-6000 kg |
| Vehicle Mass | 2000 kg | 1000 kg |
| Top Speed | 20 kph | 20 kph |
| Range | 25 km | 100 km |
| Slope Climbing | 15 Degrees | 25 Degrees |
Science fiction writers have spent a fair amount of time thinking about how to get around on the Moon's surface. Arthur C. Clarke thought we might need mass transit:
The monocab entered a long tunnel at the base of one of the domes. Sadler had a glimpse of great doors closing behind them - then another set, then another. Then there was the unmistakable sound of air surging around them, a final door opened ahead...
(Read more about Clarke's monocab from Earthlight [1955])
Clarke also created a practical vehicle for towing material around on the Moon's surface that took advantage of the powdery lunar soil - the dust-ski, which moved like a jet-ski through deep lunar powder:
At that very moment... one of the searching dusk-skis was passing directly overhead. Built for speed, efficiency and cheapness ... It was, in fact, no more than an open sledge with seats for the pilot and one passenger - each wearing a space suit - and with a canopy overhead to give protection from the sun. A simple control panel, motor and twin fans at the rear, storage racks for tools and equipment - that completed the inventory. A ski going about its normal work usually towed at least one carrier sledge behind it
(Read more about Clarke's dusk-ski from A Fall of Moondust [1961])
Robert Heinlein thought that lunar prospectors might want to have something more personal for travel and hauling:
The solitary prospector, deprived of his traditional burro, found the bicycle an acceptable and reliable, if somewhat less congenial, substitute. A miner's bike would have looked odd in the streets of Stockholm; over-sized wheels, doughnut sand tires, towing yoke and trailer, battery trickle charger, two-way radio, saddle bags and Geiger-counter mount made it not the vehicle for a spin in the park - but on Mars or on the Moon it fitted its purpose the way a canoe fits a Canadian stream.
(Read more about Heinlein's lunocycle from The Rolling Stones [1952])
From NASA Chariot via Wired.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/5/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")
Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again?
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.' - Orson Scott Card, 1985.
Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors...'
Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri
'This was their world, their planet —
this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.' - Nat Schachner, 1934
The First Space Warship For Space Force
'Each of the electrical ships carried about twenty men...' - Garrett P. Serviss, 1898.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Boring Company Vegas Loop Like Asimov Said
'There was a wall ahead... It was riddled with holes that were the mouths of tunnels.'
Rigid Metallic Clothing From Science Fiction To You
'...support the interior human structure against Jupiter’s pull.'
Is The Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 A Heinlein Vibroblade?
'It ain't a vibroblade. It's steel. Messy.'
Roborock Saros Z70 Is A Robot Vacuum With An Arm
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray...'
A Beautiful Visualization Of Compact Food
'The German chemists have discovered how to supply the needed elements in compact, undiluted form...'
Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...'
Secret Kill Switch Found In Yutong Buses
'The car faltered as the external command came to brake...'
Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...'
Grok Scores Best In Psychological Tests
'Try to find out how he ticks...'
PaXini Supersensitive Robot Fingers
'My fingers are not that sensitive...'
Congress Considers Automatic Emergency Braking, One Hundred Years Too Late
'The greatest problem of all was the elimination of the human element of braking together with its inevitable time lag.'
The Desert Ship Sailed In Imagination
'Across the ancient sea floor a dozen tall, blue-sailed Martian sand ships floated, like blue smoke.'
The Zapata Air Scooter Would Be Great In A Science Fiction Story
'Betty's slapdash style.'
Thermostabilized Wet Meat Product (NASA Prototype)
There are no orbiting Michelin stars. Yet.
Could Crystal Batteries Generate Power For Centuries?
'Power could be compressed thus into an inch-square cube of what looked like blue-white ice'
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
'It is necessary... for your own protection.'
