[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap]udi and the German engineers group, Part-Time scientists have together developed lunar quattro rover that is all set to explore the terrain of Moon. Partnership was inked in the year 2015 with aim to build a rover that can successfully traverse the terrain of moon with the support of Google Lunar XPRIZE competition.
Mission is divided into three major phases:
- Safe Landing on the terrain.
- Explore at least 500m successfully before it goes down.
- Capture and send high definition pictures back to earth.
[button color=”red” size=”normal” alignment=”none” rel=”follow” openin=”samewindow” ]Phase 1 : Landing[/button]
Ensuring secure passage and safe landing is going to be cup of tea as it is not the journey of few hundred kilometers, the distance one has to travel to reach the moon is 384,400 kilometers and it is going to be strenuous expedition full of difficulties such as very high gravitational pull, severe temperature variations, radiations of the sun and many more. Lunar quattro rover will be sent to mission in Dnepr rocket and two rovers will be sent in one rocket.
https://youtu.be/kH1k-rKALnc
If landing is done as planned then half of the job is considered done as it is the most significant of all the three phases. If rover has landed safely then it will move to next phase.
[button color=”pink” size=”normal” alignment=”none” rel=”follow” openin=”samewindow” ]Phase 2: Explore the terrain[/button]
First it will charged using solar energy and it will start moving. Driving 500m terrain in not same as driving on the earth, here are the reasons:
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- Moon dust – Dust on the moon is 1000 times more finer as compared to dust on the earth, so hinders the movement and it can easily get into gear box bringing the whole project down and it can also accumulate on the solar panel and power supply of rover will go down as it keeps on covering the panel.
- Temperature variations – Various parts of the rover expand and contract as they experience high and low temperatures leading the rover to be stationery.
https://youtu.be/1z9xxth5IxA
[button color=”brown” size=”normal” alignment=”none” rel=”follow” openin=”samewindow” ]Phase 3 : Sending HD Images[/button]
Third and last phase of the project, rover will send HD images back to the earth using a lens at the top and transistors. But issue that concerns the engineers is the intense radiation of the sun which pass through system unfiltered which may or may not damage the transistor, although back up transistors are there.
Here is demo of Audi lunar quattro rover at Detroit auto show:
If the rover is able to complete all the above three steps successfully, it will win Google Lunar XPRIZE. For more information you can go to their official site.