Toyota Lunar Cruiser: Off-Roading on the Moon – GearJunkie

Home Motors Toyota Lunar Cruiser: Off-Roading on the Moon

Complete with living quarters, workstations, and cutting-edge scientific instruments, the Lunar Cruiser could be the key for lunar and ultimately, Martian colonization.

On Friday, Jan. 28, Toyota and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) greenlighted the Lunar Cruiser project. After years of research and testing, engineers have started developing the advanced Land Cruiser-inspired rover, which Toyota expects to launch at the end of this decade.

Successful deployment on Mars is the ultimate goal, company officials say.

The Lunar Cruiser, whose name borrows from Toyotas perennially popular SUV, should be a live-in laboratory on wheels. Van life meets Star Trek, really. According to project lead Takao Sato, the vehicle will provide a space where people can safely live, work, and communicate with others while on the moon. If all goes according to script, Toyota should get there by 2040.

The projects been in the works for a while now some digging around in the Toyota press room unearthed a March 2019 announcement of the automakers collaboration with JAXA.But that release merely announced the two organizations agreement to consider the possibility of collaborating on international space exploration.

The pair entered into a joint research agreement to work on a manned pressurized lunar rover in June 2019.

A press release from August 2020 stated that the research involved the use of simulations to confirm power and heat dissipation performance while driving, the manufacture and assessment of prototype tires, and the use of virtual reality and full-scale models to consider the layout of equipment in the cabin.

The same statement revealed that JAXA and Toyota met with officials from various industries to discuss the vehicles potential as a starting point for lunar colonization.

Toyota brought in Gitai Japan Inc. for help developing the Lunar Cruisers peripheral robotic arm, which will provide essential collection, inspection, and maintenance services. A grappling-like structure at the arms end will allow operators to alternate between a set of specialized tools.

Although additional specifics about the Cruisers architecture are still under wraps, Fridays announcement, revealed bythe AP, seems like a concrete declaration from JAXA and Toyota.

We see space as an area for our once-in-a-century transformation, Sato stated. By going to space, we may be able to develop telecommunications and other technology that will prove valuable to human life.

For updates, follow Toyota Motor Corp. and JAXAon Twitter.

No, we won't get the Land Cruiser 300 in North America, but we will get the 2023 Toyota Sequoia TRD Pro. While the previous Sequoia didn't get us very excited, this one does! Read more

More:
Toyota Lunar Cruiser: Off-Roading on the Moon - GearJunkie