General Motors is building a new lunar rover for astronauts

General Motors has joined the US Artemis lunar program. The automaker has begun developing a lunar rover for astronauts, and its first renders and mock-ups have already been presented. About it writes Detroit Business edition.

The new lunar rover for NASA is being developed in close collaboration with Lockheed Martin, a key participant in the Artemis program. It is known that this is a two-seater electric car of a rather simple design.

The lunar rover is being built on the GM Ultium platform, which is also used electric hummer and crossover Cadillac Lyriq. However, the battery is being upgraded for use in harsh environments. The maximum speed will be about 20 km/h. It is also known that the American lunar rover will receive a Super Cruise autopilot.

Since it is impossible to recreate lunar conditions on Earth, they are testing an electric car virtually – in the Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) computer simulator, which was originally created by General Motors for NASCAR racing. The program allows you to enter the parameters of the environment on the moon and reproduce the operation of the lunar rover in conditions of a large temperature difference and weak gravity.

Important

Better than Tesla: Volvo is preparing electric trucks with a record range (photo)

Recall that during the 1971-1972 US lunar missions, the astronauts used the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) electric cars, created specifically at General Motors. In total, for three expeditions, they covered over 90 km on the surface of the moon. The new moon rovers are designed for much longer ranges.

Focus previously reported that as part of the lunar program create special electric vehicles. They will deliver the astronauts to the launch pad.

We also wrote that for the Artemis mission they are developing very unusual suits.