"In a Rye, Colorado, cattle pasture now subbing for the moon, an otherworldly vehicle bumps along a scrubby course of furrows and mounds, weaving around rocks and kicking up a fine dust. It's an open-concept machine dubbed Falcon - a silver solar-powered rectangular frame on wheels, with a partial roof, windowless sides, and a spacious cockpit flanked by monitors and steering controls."
"An engineer sits in one of its two seats for safety as the vehicle autonomously navigates around obstacles to a location dictated by Mission Control 160 miles away. Suddenly, a wheel hits a rock, and Falcon halts, relaying real-time feedback to Mission Control. There, an operator revises a command for another attempt, driving home the hurdles in developing novel spacefaring technology."
In a Rye, Colorado cattle pasture serving as a moon analog, a solar-powered vehicle named Falcon autonomously navigates a rough course while an engineer occupies a safety seat. Falcon is a silver rectangular frame on wheels with a partial roof, windowless sides, and a spacious cockpit. During testing a wheel hit a rock and Falcon relayed real-time feedback to Mission Control, prompting an operator to revise commands. Justin Cyrus leads Lunar Outpost, which has operated technology on Mars, landed the first commercial moon rover, and secured six upcoming lunar and cislunar missions. Lunar Outpost competes to build NASA's Artemis V lunar terrain vehicle, a contract worth up to $4.6 billion, with a decision due this month.
Read at Fast Company
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]