Cyberquad ATV could pull dual duty as SpaceX's Personal Lunar Terrain Vehicle in Project Artemis

Throwcomputer

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Was reading up on all the various corporate partnerships with NASA and how they relate to various aspects of our return to lunar exploration within Project Artemis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program

Besides being completely impressed with our plans for two stations, one as an earth orbiting staging ground for outbound transits and a second Gateway lunar orbiting station as staging base for surface bound missions and refueling for return trips, it got me thinking of how the Cyberquad ATV could totally be a cheap/mass produced non-pressurized personal lunar terrain vehicle for astronauts to quickly and economically (power-wise) navigate the lunar surface.

I'm sure the geniuses at tesla/space x could turn our earth bound ATV into a highly efficient moon buggy that is self-sustaining through solar panel recharging batteries. The lesser gravity would mean less power demands from the powertrain that could possibly be charged solely from the angular body of the cyberquad.. if the body surface was fully made up of solar panels!

How cool would that be if we got to the point of homogenous vehicles that with minimal effort to swap parts based on earth/moon terrain could see successful usage both on earth and in space! Every CT owner who buys a cyberquad gets to say they have their own lunar terrain vehicle!

Could also potentially drastically reduce production costs for lunar terrain vehicles, which is in line with Space X/Tesla's decision to use the same stainless steel for rockets and CT. Hell.. they could even make the CT a lunar exploration vehicle if only it didn't weigh so damn much!
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SAVFPV

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Wow! Incredible! Hope it happens
 

ldjessee

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Same for Mars... and people have already talked about the Cybertruck on Mars, so what about the moon...
 
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Same for Mars... and people have already talked about the Cybertruck on Mars, so what about the moon...
NASA has actual planned missions to the moon in the next 10 years. Mars (manned missions to mars) is still a theoretical aspiration. Thats why. I'm sure by the time we get to Mars with actual humans the cyberquad will be archaic technology!

Plus we are talking about sending vehicles to distant bodies. Sending a vehicle the weight of a cybertruck is drastically more resource intensive than a few vehicles the weight of atvs. The cyberquad is a much more realistic mode of transportation for long distance missions purely from a weight perspective.
 
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NASA has actual planned missions to the moon in the next 10 years. Mars (manned missions to mars) is still a theoretical aspiration. Thats why. I'm sure by the time we get to Mars with actual humans the cyberquad will be archaic technology!

Plus we are talking about sending vehicles to distant bodies. Sending a vehicle the weight of a cybertruck is drastically more resource intensive than a few vehicles the weight of atvs. The cyberquad is a much more realistic mode of transportation for long distance missions purely from a weight perspective.
Plus with since moon people will have to wear an atmosphere to survive anyway, there isn't a need to have all the extra cab space to hold them. And at least for the foreseeable future, there will not be enough traffic on the moon to worry about collisions. Well, I suppose that one might worry about wild drivers flipping the vehicle or hitting large rocks but with the lower gravity on the moon that might not be a big problem either. Seems like an ATV would be more convenient and useful than a CT on the moon.
 


ldjessee

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For an individual, or even maybe 2 (like Apollo missions), but for 4-6? And to carry around scientific equipment... Maybe a trailer would make more sense...

Anyway, even if not the Cyberquad, getting used to small drive trains for harsh environments (the regolith on the moon is no joke) would be good to practice for moon vehicles... maybe?
 
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For an individual, or even maybe 2 (like Apollo missions), but for 4-6? And to carry around scientific equipment... Maybe a trailer would make more sense...

Anyway, even if not the Cyberquad, getting used to small drive trains for harsh environments (the regolith on the moon is no joke) would be good to practice for moon vehicles... maybe?
Whose to say a 4-6 person vehicle is needed. I bet 4-6 individual cyberquads is less weight for transport to the moon, and less power consumption than 1 big ass multi-person transport vehicle. They have habitats planned for living spaces. They don't technically need a vehicle with self-contained atmosphere. The vehicles are really only for quick transport between locations. I'm sure if they need to move equipment then a trailer with hitch on back of cyberquad is more than enough in the reduced gravity.
 
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I can see the Tesla Bots riding around on Mars on the Cyberquads.
My guess is that Elon came up with the Bot as a precursor to sending humans to mars.
After all they are intended to do "boring, repetitive and dangerous jobs".
Sending Bots on the early missions would also negate the need for human life support systems and storage for food and water for human astronauts on the early space ships.
 

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It’s a neat idea, but a lunar vehicle has completely different structural needs. Way less torque, much smaller motor since higher speeds would launch astronauts, a quad is built for going fast over bumps in earth gravity. Temperature swings are huge and cold temperatures are much lower so the batteries would need much more insulation and heating.

A purpose build lander would be much much lighter since it doesn’t need to support earth weight.
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