Audi is taking off for the moon – together with the Part-Time Scientists team. The group of German engineers are working within the framework of the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition to transport an unmanned rover onto Earth’s natural satellite. Audi is supporting the Part-Time Scientists with its know-how in several fields of technology – from quattro drive and lightweight construction to electric mobility and piloted driving. The moon rover will be named the “Audi lunar quattro.”
The US$ 30 million plus Google Lunar XPRIZE is a competition to challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration. To win the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a privately funded team must successfully place a robot on the moon’s surface that explores at least 500 meters and transmits high-definition video and images back to Earth.
AUDI AG is incorporating its technological know-how into optimization of the rover of the Part-Time Scientists, the only German team competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE. Their prototype lunar vehicle has already been recognized during the course of the competition by a jury of aerospace experts with two Milestone Prizes.
As a cooperating partner, Audi is primarily supporting the team with its expertise in lightweight construction and electric mobility, with quattro permanent all-wheel drive and with piloted driving. Audi is also providing wide-ranging assistance in testing, trials and quality assurance. In addition, the Audi Concept Design Studio in Munich is revising the moon rover, which will be named the “Audi lunar quattro.”
The lunar vehicle with the Audi lunar quattro should launch into space by the end of 2017 on board a launching rocket and will travel more than 380,000 kilometers to the moon. The trip will take around five days. The target zone is north of the Moon’s equator, close to the 1972 landing site of the Apollo 17, NASA’s last manned mission to the moon.
