Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will join Toyota Motor Corporation and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to jointly develop the Luna Cruiser manned lunar rover.
What is Luna Cruiser, scheduled to launch in 2029? What relationship does it have with our daily lives?
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“Luna Cruiser” concept proposal considered by JAXA and Toyota (based on Toyota Motor Corporation press release)
The rough-road driving technology developed with the Toyota Land Cruiser will also survive on the Moon.
The US-led “Artemis” lunar exploration program aims to send humans to the surface of the Moon after 2025. As part of this project, Toyota and JAXA are working on the “Luna” mobility project, which is necessary to manned exploration activities on the Moon. We jointly developed the “Cruiser”.
Unlike Toyota's “Land Cruiser” off-road vehicle, the Luna Cruiser is a “moon-driving off-road vehicle”, as its name suggests, and it is not an unmanned vehicle, but a manned lunar rover with two crew members. .
Toyota says it wants to achieve off-road driving and autonomous driving on the Moon with “a running gear that combines the robust structure cultivated with the Land Cruiser and electric technology.” In the picture photo, it is 4WD or 6WD.
Unlike Earth, the surface of the Moon is made up of rocks and a smooth surface called lunar sand. In addition to the slope, there are also large depressions (craters). To travel on such a lunar surface, the Land Cruiser relies on its rough-road travel technology, which when one wheel floats, distributes torque to the remaining wheels in order to escape.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries provides 'pressurization technology' that ensures space for people to stay inside cars
Basically, the power of the Luna Cruiser electric car comes from “regenerative fuel cells”.
Although the name is unfamiliar, “during the sun, water is electrolyzed to produce hydrogen and oxygen through solar energy, and at night, electricity is provided by a battery.” fuel that reacts with stored hydrogen and oxygen. »
On the lunar surface, day and night change every 14 days, making it difficult to provide energy during those 14 days without sunlight. To solve this problem, Toyota plans to use regenerative fuel cells and explains that “the technology and reliability of fuel cells developed on the ground, like MIRAI, will be used on the Moon.”
While Toyota aims to apply these automotive technologies to the lunar surface, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will use technologies it has developed through conventional space exploration. More precisely, it is a “pressurization technology” that guarantees a space where people can stay inside the Luna Cruiser.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has so far participated in the construction of the Japanese Kibo experimental module on the International Space Station. The company will provide Toyota and JAXA with technology to secure space and environment that will enable manned space travel (human space stay technology and space environment resistant technology).
Expectations for the use of “regenerative fuel cells” on Earth as a source of electrical power for isolated islands and disaster evacuation centers
In the Artemis lunar exploration program, the Luna Cruiser is not only “promoted” by Japan, but also by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has expectations from Japan.
Manned exploration of the lunar surface is expected to last up to 42 days per year. The Luna Cruiser's lifespan on the Moon is expected to be 10 years, with a total range of 10,000 km. Regardless, it would be a great achievement if technologies from Toyota and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, two of Japan's leading manufacturing companies, were combined to create a manned lunar rover.
In the future, if the Luna Cruiser is realized as planned, “regenerative fuel cells” can probably also be used on Earth.
Toyota says this system, which stores hydrogen and oxygen for the 14 days of the moon and provides electricity for the 14 days of the night, can be used as a power source for ships, islands isolated areas and disaster evacuation centers.
Will regenerative fuel cells, supposedly capable of providing carbon-neutral energy semi-permanently and without running costs as long as there is water and sunlight, become a reality?
Expectations are high for the research and development of the Luna Cruiser, which includes such futuristic technology. (Journalist Ryo Iwaki)