For the next mission to the Moon, Toyota has a card to play with its Lunar Cruiser

The Lunar Cruiser could finally find an outlet. Designed by the Japanese aerospace exploration agency, Jaxa, and Toyota, this lunar rover was presented in 2019 for a launch within the next five to ten years, without a predefined buyer. However, as part of its Artemis II lunar exploration program, which is not planned before September 2025, NASA, the American space agency, commissioned Space and Blue Origin, for the supply of cargo landing gear… But not for the provision of means of travel.

Several sources suggest that Toyota could position itself in this market, in which neither Elon Musk, although experienced in building vehicles with Tesla, nor Jeff Bezos are present. The Japanese car manufacturer’s machine has arguments to make. Driven by an electric motor with a regenerative fuel cell, this manned and pressurized vehicle must be equipped with a passenger compartment allowing its passengers to spend “a certain amount of time” (not yet specified) there without a spacesuit. The carrying of this heavy equipment could thus be lightened during expeditions to the moon, or even another planet.

Metal tires

“The surface of the Moon has six times less gravity than Earth, experiences temperatures ranging from -170 to 120 degrees Celsius, is in a complete vacuum, is bathed in strong radiation and is covered in lunar sand, regolith », recall Toyota engineers, for whom their research efforts are not completely disinterested since certain technologies could be used for land vehicles.

On the equipment side, using a water electrolysis system, hydrogen can be produced using sunlight to provide energy during the night. Note that lunar nights last 14 terrestrial nights. Bridgestone, for its part, has developed metal tires, rubber being considered “useless” given the climatic conditions specific to the Moon. The direction of each tire can be adjusted independently to be able to brake in the event of a hardware failure. The speed of each tire can also be adjusted individually.

In 2021, the Japanese manufacturer Nissan had for its part presented the prototype of a space exploration robot. One thing is certain, however: the astronauts who will participate in the next Artemis mission will be dressed in a jumpsuit developed in partnership with Prada.