NASA has unveiled a new six-wheeled vehicle that may be the future of navigation on Mars.
The vehicle was unveiled at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex this week, fully made of carbon and aluminum fibers and powered by electric and solar energy.
The vehicle is 8.5 meters long and four meters wide and designed to accommodate four astronauts inside. It also has its own laboratory that can be separated for field experiments.
NASA already has two rovers on Mars, but the agency was committed to putting human beings on the surface of the Red Planet by the 1930s, so we see it looking at its needs for navigation.
The vehicle is designed by US-based Parker Brothers Concepts using specifications provided by NASA, and will also be designed in the future by roving vehicles.
The vehicle is separated from the center by the front area designed for scouts equipped with a radio and a GPS device, and at the rear serves as an integrated laboratory that can be completely separated from the vehicle and left alone to conduct research without human intervention.
According to designer Mark Parker, in this way the vehicle can navigate and operate without the consumption of fuel and excess weight and then return to docking with the back (laboratory).
The speed of the vehicle can reach 112 km / h, but it is designed to bypass Mars's rocky environment, so its average speed is expected to be 24 km / h.
The six-wheeled wheels say it is 1.3 meters high and 75 centimeters wide, and is designed with air ducts to allow the red Mars sand to pass through.
The vehicle is designed as part of an education program to inspire people to explore Mars, but NASA says it is interested in using this design in future spacecraft.