For several months NASA has been secretly working on the development of a rover to explore Mars. This development, more than a real idea, is a project designed to be shown on television and touring for educational purposes, but it has been designed to be as realistic as possible.
The vehicle still has no name and is a development by Parker Brothers Concepts, a small company specializing in creating concept cars for exhibitions, films and television series. The creation of the rover will be part of a special television program, of which the name is still unknown, with the collaboration of the Kennedy Space Center of NASA and an investment of a private company, whose name is also unknown.
The educational rover still without a name
Although this vehicle aims to serve as an educational object, its construction took just over seven months. It is a six-wheel electric vehicle that, according to its creators, would have the ability to move through the complicated Martian terrain. Each wheel is 130 centimeters high by 77 centimeters wide, while the rover has dimensions of 8.5 meters long, 4 meters wide and 3.3 meters high, weighing 2.27 tons.
Many of the materials used are carbon fiber and aluminum, since the goal is to be light and easy to maneuver. It will have the ability to move at a speed of up to 112 km / h, but will be limited to do so at a maximum of 24 km / h due to the work for which it is designed.
The vehicle is dual purpose, since on the one hand it will serve so that up to four astronauts can explore the planet, and on the other, it is also designed to have a research laboratory. The advantage is that the cabin can be disassembled to lighten the load and increase the autonomy in exploration tasks, while the laboratory can remain operable autonomously in some base.
The cabin has air conditioning, oxygen, GPS and radio for communications. While the integrated battery is 700 volts, which is charged through the solar panels of the vehicle itself.
Although the responsible television network has not confirmed the program, the creators of the rover have already published several photos and videos on their social networks where they see more details of what they managed to build. On the other hand, NASA confirms that they are actively working on the mission to reach Mars in 2033, but can not assure that this vehicle could step on Martian terrain, not so far.