chariot

（下面內容是NASA提供的該月球車資料數據。）

In preparation for the US led effort to build a lunar outpost, NASA has completed the first lunar truck prototype, named Chariot. Realizing the importance of crew and payload mobility on the lunar surface, the Exploration Technology Development Program's Human-Robotics Systems Project set out, in Apollo-like style, to build a lunar truck and the team that could shepherd future lunar truck efforts. With only one year to design, manufacture, and assemble Chariot, NASA, teamed with companies from all across America, conquered the challenge.

Chariot was operational and unveiled to the entire agency only eleven months after the beginning of the project. The vehicle is designed to meet the payload transport, range, terrain and speed specifications defined by NASA’s Lunar Architecture Team. Chariot will serve as a 1g-scaled system for technology evaluation and EVA/Ops field testing. It's design incorporates many of the lessons learned from the Apollo rovers, as well as trucks that we drive every day. However, the team also needed to challenge many basic assumptions about what a lunar truck might be - Should it have four wheels? Should people sit on seats? Should it have passive suspension? Should it steer like a car?

These challenges pressed the Chariot engineering team into the design and development of prototypes to answer these and other questions. The Lunar Architecture Team reviewed numerous design options, evaluating vehicle types and scales against mission requirements, launch limits and cost constraints. The Chariot was designed as a 1g (Earth) version of a Lunar Truck, able to work around a construction site like a utility vehicle. The system is sized to be able to carry a mixed suited crew, or combinations of crew and surface payloads such as tools, science equipment, and samples. Chariot’s chassis can be reconfigured to serve as an unpressurized lunar truck, with crew riding onboard in suits, or as a pressurized rover when it is outfitted with a small cabin. Pairs of Chariots can be used to extend crew surface ranges beyond walking distances, expanding the exploration horizon beyond the limits accepted by Apollo crews.

The development of Chariot and, more importantly, the lunar truck team has positioned America in an excellent position to develop a very robust and useful truck to be transported hundreds of thousands of miles away to become the workhorse of the lunar surface. The Chariot project positions NASA as a “smart buyer” of surface vehicles in advance of the System Requirement Review (SRR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR) dates for Lunar Surface Systems.

Key Design Specifications

Chariot Spec Earth Prototype (1g) Lunar System (1/6g)

Payload 1000 kg 3000-6000 kg

Vehicle Mass 2000 kg 1000 kg

Top Speed 20 KPH 20 KPH

Slope Climbing 15 Deg 25 deg

Range 25 Km 100 Km