China successfully built the Moon self-propelled vehicle

Scientists in Shanghai, China, successfully produced a nuclear-powered self-propelled vehicle to explore the Moon in 2012 under the country's space program. Unlike American self-propelled vehicles, Chinese cars run on nuclear power to ensure a stable source of motivation.

Self-propelled vehicles have undergone 4 years of design, construction and testing at Shanghai Space Systems Engineering Institute. There is a laboratory here that is able to model the surface of the Moon.

The participating units include: Shanghai Space Exploration Agency, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenyang Automation Institute and a number of other research institutions.

About 1.5 meters tall, with 6 wheels and weighs nearly 200 kg, self-propelled vehicles are capable of transferring video data in real time, digging and analyzing rock samples, providing 3-dimensional images of the Moon's surface . Chinese cars have an average speed of nearly 100 km / h and are capable of passing steeply sloping terrain. In addition, with automatic sensors, it easily avoids obstacles while on the move.

The Chinese Moon's self-driving car was exhibited at the China-UK Conference on Space Science and Technology in Shanghai, March 31st.(People's Daily Online)

According to Shanghai Daily, the self-propelled vehicle is similar in shape to NASA's Spirit and Opportunity vehicles ever launched on Mars in 2003 and is still active. However, the difference between Chinese and American self-propelled vehicles is the driving force . While the US uses lithium ion rechargeable batteries with Chinese nuclear power to create a stable power supply for the car.

Researchers are improving the performance of vehicles in such conditions as: low gravity, cosmic rays and extreme changes in temperature. They are planning to build a more modern laboratory for this improvement.

No data has been given about the budget for China's autonomous vehicle program. An official of the Institute said that the current chairman of the Institute is not interviewed by the press.

Self-propelled vehicles are ' funding ' to collect and analyze rock samples at the workshop. (People's Daily Online)

Under its three-phase Moon exploration project, China will first put an unmanned spacecraft into orbit around the planet next year. Phase 2 will be the unmanned spacecraft to the Moon in 2012, and the last phase is to take astronauts to the Moon sometime after 2017.

Meanwhile, according to a military-related space program, China launched two manned spacecraft into space. Under the plan, the manned third-space agent will be carried out next year - and in this mission, Chinese astronauts will walk out into space for the first time in the history of conquering the universe. of this country.

Minh Quang