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NASA's New Lunar Rover, Now Testing In Arizona
MarkWhittington writes "NASA has unveiled a new prototype lunar rover, called the Chariot, a production version of which is hoped to be operational on the lunar surface by 2019. NASA is now testing the Chariot lunar rover in Arizona, on terrain that resembles the lunar surface." Perhaps Arizona's an even closer match to the moon's surface than is Texas, or Moses Lake, WA where NASA was testing the last time we mentioned Chariot. (Here's a bit of video from the Texas round.)
Perhaps Arizona's an even closer match to the moon's surface than is Texas, or Moses Lake, WA
It puts them closer to the University(s) that have been taking over many of the projects. For NASA, it is a budget thing - for the Unis', it works as a recruitment tool when the public is looking, and play-time when not...
From the video here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081023-new-lunar-rover.html The suits are attached the outside, and astronauts simply slip into the suits from the cabin. This quite ingenious design avoids introducing any speck dust into the cabin.