Nissan, in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), unveiled a lunar rover prototype during the Nissan Futures event. The unmanned vehicle doesn’t look as impressive as the Toyota Lunar Cruiser unveiled a couple of years ago – again in collaboration with JAXA – since its role is quite different.
The lunar rover, designed by the JAXA
Space Exploration Innovation Hub Center, is using Nissan’s e-4ORCE all-wheel
control technology that can be found on the flagship trim of the
production-spec Ariya. The electric all-wheel drive system allows the lunar
rover to drive over the powdery, rocky and undulating terrain that is found on
the surface of the moon by controlling each wheel independently.
Nissan has been collaborating with JAXA on
the driving controlability of the Japanese lunar rover since January 2020.
Besides being beneficial for future space exploration, the joint research is
helping Nissan to evolve the e-4ORCE technology for better performance on sandy
terrain and harsh conditions which can also occur on planet Earth.
Styling-wise the lunar rover is pretty
much a box on wheels since aerodynamics don’t play an important role on the
moon. Nissan and JAXA didn’t give us details on the performance figures but
from the pictures, we can see that each wheel has independent suspension and
can be steered in all different angles allowing the vehicle to rotate around
its core axis. The lunar rover also gets an array of sensors, while featuring
both Nissan and JAXA logos.
