Toyota set to develop moon rover

Tokyo: Toyota is known the world over as one of the largest car manufacturers. However, the Japanese automaker is looking to expand its horizons into space.

The auto firm is planning to work with Japan’s space agency to develop a manned lunar rover that will run on fuel cell technology and provide transport for people and cargo on the moon, Toyota Motor and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had announced this week.

The planned rover would be nearly 20 feet long, 17 feet wide and about 12 feet tall, and its 459 cubic feet of living space would provide enough room for two passengers (four people would fit “in an emergency,” Toyota said).

It would also have a deployable solar panel to provide an additional energy source.

It would run on a fuel cell battery system that could draw on existing technology already used in Toyota vehicles like the Toyota Mirai.

“Fuel cells, which use clean power-generation methods, emit only water, and ... can provide a lot of energy,” Toyota executive vice-president Shigeki Terashi said in a statement.

The rover would have a “lunar-surface cruising range” of more than 6,200 miles, Toyota said.

While Japan has never launched a manned space flight itself, JAXA said the Toyota lunar rover could be a big part of a future manned launch.

“We aim to launch such a rover into space in 2029,” JAXA vice-president Koichi Wakata said in statement.