Latest Lunar rover Stories

The Teide volcanic peak on the island of Tenerife acted as a mock-up of the Moon landscape last week, with eight European student teams tuning, testing and driving their lunar rovers in preparation for a robotics competition that took place during the dark nights of last weekend. Roving on the Moon is not easy. Lunar robotic explorers have to travel in a vacuum, over rough and steep terrain covered by crust and dust. The Sun heats the rovers up to 110°C and, when driving into a...

A new lunar rover produced by NASA will allow astronauts to travel longer distances without having to wear spacesuits when they return to the moon sometime in the year 2020.  Scientists are testing the new vehicle in corner of northern Arizona which has terrain that resembles the surface of the moon.  NASA representatives watched as an astronaut drove the rover over a large lava field.  The battery powered rover can reach speeds of 6 mph and is part of a number of systems and...

MOSES LAKE SAND DUNES, Wash.-- This patch of desert may resemble the moon, but a team of NASA scientists who came here to test lunar robots, rovers and spacesuits found spring weather in Eastern Washington can be worse than outer space. During the two-week exercise, howling wind blasted sand into every nook and crevice of the machines _ some of which were venturing outside the lab for the first time. Rain squalls forced scientists to shield state-of-the-art prototypes under blue tarps....

At this year's Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Alabama, Prof. Paul Shiue of Christian Brothers University was overheard joking that duct tape was his team's "best engineering tool." Others felt the same way. The sound of gray tape being torn from rolls practically filled the race course as dozens of college and high school student engineers busily assembled and repaired their homemade moonbuggies.Little did they know, this was in the finest tradition of lunar exploration....

In a car commercial, it would sound odd: active suspension, six-wheel drive with independent steering for each wheel, no doors, no windows, no seats and the only color it comes in is gold. But NASA's latest concept vehicle is meant to go way, way off-road -- as in 240,000 miles from the nearest pavement, driving on the moon. NASA is working to send astronauts to the moon by 2020 to set up a lunar outpost, where they will do scientific research and prepare for journeys to destinations like...

NASA -- Now this is a ski report: Clear skies, no wind, sweet slopes and deep powder -- not expected to melt for at least five billion years. Grab your poles and pack your bags. Just don't forget your spacesuit, because you're going to the moon.The moon's dust-covered mountains reminded more than one Apollo astronaut of a winter wonderland: "My snowsuit's ready," joked Apollo 14 pilot Ed Mitchell after donning his spacesuit for a walk around Fra Mauro. Commander Al Shepard agreed,...

For the first time since the 1970s, a NASA spacecraft will get clear pictures of Apollo relics on the Moon.Inside the lunar lander Challenger, a radio loudspeaker crackled.Houston: "We've got you on television now. We have a good picture."Gene Cernan, Apollo 17 commander: "Glad to see old Rover's still working.""Rover," the moon buggy, sat outside with no one in the driver's seat, its side-mounted TV camera fixed on Challenger. Back in Houston and around the...