Audi Lunar Quattro: Taking The Quattro Tech Sky High

By Rajkamal

Updated: Wednesday, August 5, 2015, 18:26 [IST]

The moon has always been a quest for people and a few lucky ones have set foot on it. Apart from just monitoring it, many have tried to explore it as well.

Many countries have spent fortunes trying to explore the moon and the first man-made object to reach the moon was the unmanned Soviet probe Luna 2 in 1959 and prior to that, the only available means of exploration had been observation from earth.

The Soviet Union was ahead in this race for a long time until the US decided to land a human on the moon, and this was achieved by Neil Armstrong.

Fast forwarding to the present, German luxury carmaker Audi is aiming for the moon, quite figuratively with the Audi Lunar Quattro.

Audi Lunar Quattro: Taking The Quattro Tech Sky High

The open-minded philosophy at the Audi Concept Design Studio. The designers need to exceed the limits to find new designs. The Audi Lunar Quattro had to have a better design compared to anything else and have the qualities that lie on the inside of the object.

The Lunar Quattro should operate and drive in conditions that are the most extreme a vehicle can drive in. The temperatures for example, +120 degrees Celsius facing the sun but 180 degrees Celsius on the side facing away from the sun.

The Audi Lunar Quattro is built using space aluminium and magnesium for maximum resistance to the radiation on the moon and also to keep it light. It weighs just 35 kgs and has a top speed of 3.6 km/h. The moon rover uses Audi's Quattro technology.

The Audi Lunar Quattro has undergone testing in Tenerife and the Alps. Powering the rover are solar panels and a lithium-ion battery. Double wishbone suspension is used at all four of the wheels that can each be rotated over 360 degrees.