Audi headed to the moon

Audi announced its partnership with a group of German engineers, called ‘Part-Time Scientists’, in early 2015 with a common objective of bringing together their individual technological expertise to get a rover to explore the moon. The mission is to qualify for the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition. Following extensive tests, development of the Audi Lunar Quattro rover has finally been completed.

The Part-Time Scientists announced at Audi City in Berlin that it plans to launch the rover to the moon by late 2017, using a launcher booked with Spaceflight Inc.

Over the past few months, a group of 16 Audi experts have been supporting the Part-Time Scientists with expertise in a large number of technical areas and have optimised the rover for the lunar mission. The German carmaker says it was able to contribute its quattro experience, knowledge of lightweight construction, and expertise with its e-tron vehicles and design, to help the Berlin team with the development of the unmanned lunar vehicle.

Audi’s experts have been working on the rover’s intelligent all-wheel-drive power distribution, optimising its high-performance electronics and contributing their piloted driving expertise to the development process. In order to boost stability and increase the contact surface, the engineers and designers have enlarged the rover and its wheels. They also reduced its weight from 38kg to 30kg by adopting an optimum mix of materials and using aluminum 3D printing.

Once on the moon, the Audi Lunar Quattro will have four cameras to help it find its way around. It will use them to examine objects and take 3D and 360-degree pictures. Before the launch, however, the team will need to conduct extensive stress testing of the two Audi Lunar Quattro vehicles and the landing probe. To that end, the team is now working on fine-tuning the set-up and will be simulating the entire mission in the Middle East over the next few months.

The Google Lunar XPRIZE, worth more than US$ 30 million (approximately Rs 190 crore), is a space travel competition aimed at engineers and entrepreneurs from all over the world. To win, a private team must get a rover on the moon, drive it for least 500 metres and send high-resolution pictures back to earth. From an original field of almost 30 challengers, it's now down to five teams in the race to the moon.