Audi is helping a team called Part-Time Scientists which is taking part in Google’s Lunar XPRIZE, a competition to get to the Moon and win $30 million. Basically, anybody from around the world can build a rover, fly it to the moon, send back data and win the prize.
Audi will be contributing knowledge of robotics, propulsion and lightweight materials to the project, and it’s now putting the finishing touches on a rover called “Audi Lunar Quattro.”
The challenge requires that once on the lunar surface, the robot explores at least 500 m around and sends back high quality photos and video.
The Part-Time Scientists are planning to launch their mission to the Moon in 2017, landing five days after near the spot where Apollo 17 touched down in 1972.
The vehicle is actually their work, but Audi is revising (and branding it) for the mission. Check out what it looks like in the photos posted below the jump.
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