Watch Out Tesla the Next Car in Space May Be Toyota

By Bill D’Zio March 27, 2020

A little over a year after Elon Musk launched his Cherry red Tesla Sports car into space on the debut launch of the Falcon Heavy, JAXA and Toyota announced their collaboration efforts on a manned lunar rover. The March 12, 2019 announcement underlines Japan’s reinforced efforts towards space exploration, leveraging key technologies in which Japan excels, in particular cars. In April 2020, JAXA hopes to ink a deal with NASA to put the rover on the moon together. Further bad news for Elon Musk’s Tesla roadster, this Toyota Moon Car would have a range of roughly of 10,000 Kilometers, greatly exceeding the typical range of a Tesla. This increased range is being proposed by levering next generation fuel cell technology.

JAXA Vice President Wakata “At JAXA, , we are studying various scenarios as well as technologies that will be applied to specific space missions. Manned, pressurized rovers will be an important element supporting human lunar exploration, which we envision will take place in the 2030s. We aim at launching such a rover into space in 2029.“

The rover partnership makes sense for JAXA.  Automotive companies have highly developed technologies for robotics and self-driving technologies.  The rover will be expected to host astronauts for several weeks at a time, giving Astronauts more range in exploring the surface like the Apollo Lunar buggies.

Unlike Apollo’s lunar buggies, the Toyota rovers will have the ability to autonomously dive after the astronauts depart and arrive at the next waypoint awaiting the next group of astronauts.  The rover will have to be a very capable vehicle  and push the limits of Toyota experience which spans the global earth.  “The moon will be our sixth continent to conquer,” Terashi of Toyota said.

This will be a challenge that is unprecedented as the moon is a harsh environment with drastic temperature swings from day to night and potentially deadly, damaging radiation.   For the AI and self-driving, Toyota can leverage experience with Kirobo, the first robot to speak in outer space deployed on the International Space Station in 2013.

For the radiation and pressurized life support environment, Toyota will likely collaborate closely with JAXA.  JAXA’s Tibo ( Japan experimental module ) was Japan’s first flown manned space construction which featured a livable pressurized module.  JEM also featured non-pressurized experiments area and remote manipulator arm both of which are useful for rover development.

Additionally, Japan has experience with autonomous resupply vehicles for the ISS.  HTV re-supply vehicle provide a wealth of operational knowledge that can be applied to a Lunar Rover and combined with Toyota’s understanding of autonomous self-driving knowledge.  Toyota will need to leverage these prior experiences to make a successful foray into the lunar buggy market.

Space Cars By the numbers:

	Apollo Lunar Buggy	Toyota Lunar rover:	NASA concept Mars rover	CyberTruck Tri Motor AWD	Starman’s Tesla
Length (m)	3.1	6	7.3	5.885	3.95
Width (m)	2.3	5.2	3.96	2.083	1.87
Height (m)	1.14	3.8	3.35	1.905	1.87
Pressurized Volume m^3	N/A	13	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mass (Kg)	210	3000	2500	2350.516	1,300
Range(km)	35.9	10,000	undisclosed	800	393
Wheels	4	6	6	4	4
Passengers	2	4	4	6	2

Launch Mass Issue

Every pound or kilogram matters, especially when it comes to space. Looking back at the NASA moon rover that was first used on the first J class moon mission, Apollo 15, mass was an issue. NASA set the rover mass cap at 400 lbs(181 kg). To the dismay of engineers, their design was over the target. With 17 months to prepare for the lunar mission, Boeing and GM didn’t have the time to endless engineer the lunar rover. The issue for NASA is that every kg of extra mass that the rover need, was a kg of fuel that would need to be sacrificed. At 210 kg, the lunar rover was overweight. NASA agreed to the increased mass after the design was made compact enough to fit in the Quadrant 1 storage bay compartment of the  Lunar Module. (You can read about the Apollo 15 Astronaut that recently passed away in 2020: Astronaut Alfred “Al” Worden)

If JAXA and NASA intended to land a Toyota Rover on the Moon, then they would need to have a lander large enough and strong enough to safely set it down on the Moon. The Toyota Rover would have nearly double the pressurized volume of the Apollo Lander Module. For Reference, the Apollo lander module Crew cabin volume was roughly 235 cu ft (6.7 m³) with only 160 cu ft (4.5 m³) habitable space. The Rover is quoted at 3000 kg which is much less than the vintage Apollo era landers. The reduced mass would be very helpful in landing it on the moon and since this mass has been landed on the Moon before, it is very possible to achieve.

(reference size chart)	Toyota Lunar rover:	Lunar Module Lander (ascent stage)
Length (m)	6.0	2.8
Width (m)	5.2	4.3
Height (m)	3.8	2.8
Pressurized Volume m^3	13.0	6.7
Mass (Kg)	3000	4700

Technology has advanced greatly when Apollo missions were designed in the 1960s. Blue Origin has released plans for a new generation of lunar landers called the Blue Moon. The Blue Moon lander has been disclosed to be capable of delivering 4,500 kg (9,900 lb) to the lunar surface. The cargo spacecraft likely could also support NASA activities such as a potential mission in 2024 to the south pole of the Moon. The concept mass of the Toyota Rover would be well within the announced capacity of Blue Moon which would be launched by the Blue Origin Blue Moon.

Mass growth is frequently a problem in space projects

Knowing that a Toyota could be transported to the Moon with Blue Origin’s Blue Moon and New Glenn indicates that is feasible. However, one of the biggest challenges to space missions is mass growth. As engineers try to optimize the vehicle and meet the requirements of the harsh lunar environment, it is common to find that the mass is increasing. As testing and validation of the design matures, light weight parts may be found to be lacking and require additional robustness…and weight.

One such environmental condition that may drive additional mass requirements is radiation shielding. During the Apollo missions, there was the constant concern that the astronauts might be exposed to high levels of radiation. The Earth has a protective magnetic field and a thick atmosphere that helps shield the inhabitants from deadly solar flares from our sun and Galactic Cosmic Radiation, or GCR, comes from outside the solar system but primarily from within our Milky Way galaxy. (Highly energized radiation that comes from outside of our solar system is GCR)

This Highly energized radiation GCR bombards the surface of the Moon and satellites orbiting it. The Moon lacks a global magnetic field like that of Earth. As a result, the lunar surface are not shielded from SPE(solar particle events) that erupt from the surface of the Sun.

While on the surface of the Moon, Astronauts are partially protected by the Moon itself as it helps block some of that radiation. An astronaut on the surface of the moon is protected from the GCR environment in 2π directions by the lunar regolith(Surface). You can visualize this with a large exercise ball and placing a lego mini figure on one side(just use some tape to hold the figure). If you shine a light at the ball, the mini figure would receive less light from low angles and no light when the source is blocked by the ball. Using this logic, An astronaut conceivably could stay on the moon for twice as long as an astronaut in deep space and receive the same dose of radiation. You can read more technical details from a 2005 report by NASA Radiation Protection for Lunar Mission Scenarios.

Even with the partial protection by the lunar surface, the lack of an atmosphere and missing global magnetic fields, radiation still posses a challenge. Mapping of magnetic fields have discovered some localized magnetic fields, but much lower than the necessary amount to effectively block GCR and SPE. NASA lunar base concepts include placing moon bases under the lunar regolith. Put enough lunar rocks on top of the Moon base and the amount of GCR and SPE that gets in goes way down. Since driving in a Toyota on the moon would be difficult with a lot of lunar rocks thrown on top is not practical. As a result, Astronauts would be extremely vulnerable to the effects of space radiation during lunar excursions or cursing in their Toyota on the surface.

So the total amount of radiation that astronauts receive will greatly depend upon solar activity during the mission, their location with respect to localized magnetic fields, and the amount and type of radiation shielding used in lunar rover. The more radiation shielding, the more Mass that needs to be transported to the moon. Some concepts have proposed using water ice as radiation shielding to help protect the occupants. But once again, the more radiation shielding the more mass required to transport to the moon and the less other scientific equipment or supplies.

Related to radiation is light. The Lunar surface experiences 354 Hours of night and 354 Hours of daylight. With no atmosphere to help moderate temperatures, the temperature has a massive range. From a low of -280 F to a high of +250 F, the Moon rover would need to account for this wide range.

To power the Toyota Rover, large deployable solar panels are proposed with a battery system to store extra energy. The rover would need to function on solar panels and have some alternate other source of power if expected to operate during lunar night. Or the lunar rover would need to plug in to recharge the batteries. This wide range of temperature adds complexity to the design to ensure that the rover can safely operate at the wide range. Adding insulation to the vehicle translates into more mass, which was established to be a mission constraint.

Possibly the biggest issue on the Moon.

Beyond the radiation, temperature fluctuations, and lack of air, there is another critical challenge.   Dust.  Challenges with dust were experienced during each of the Apollo missions.

According to a research paper published by NASA’s Johnson space center, astronauts who landed on the Moon’s surface all reported difficulties with lunar dust.  Three main areas of concern: (A) Dust Adhesion and Abrasion, (B) Surface Electric Fields and (C) Dust Transport.  This very fine dust is ultra invasive and is highly reactive.

A first hand recounting of the challenges with Lunar dust covered in the R. Goodwin Apollo 17 NASA Mission Report( 2002) by Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan stated that “… one of the most aggravating, restricting facets of lunar surface exploration is the dust and its adherence to everything no matter what kind of material, whether it be skin, suit material, metal, no matter what it be and it’s restrictive friction-like action to everything it gets on”.

In spite of NASA’s experiences—from which Toyota will likely learn—there is still a lot that is not known about lunar dust. Sorry, Elon, shooting your personal car into deep space past Mars does not count as driving in space, and indeed, the car was not designed to handle lunar dust, among other things.  Toyota will likely turn to first-hand accounts and seek to overcome are the challenges experienced by NASA.

Apollo Astronauts reported during Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) excursions a lot of moon dust being kicked-up and covering exposed areas.   Although the pictures looked cool, this excessive dust lead to increased friction at mechanical surfaces. The abrasive effect from this deposited dust significantly limited the lifetime of surface equipment through increased surface wear and tear. In other words, dust gets everywhere and can cause machines to break down. With no Toyota car dealership or mechanic shop to fix the Toyota, the design has to be carefully thought out to minimize the dust.

These observations were additionally confirmed through examination of parts from Surveyor 3 recovered during Apollo 12.  NASA observed dust accumulation and adhesion were greater than anticipated on  surfaces, both exposed aluminum and painted surfaces.

JAXA and Toyota know there are a lot of challenges ahead for a manned mission to the moon but they are still progressing forward toward a 2029 lunar rover landing. 

JAXA Vice President Wakata noted “At JAXA, we are studying various scenarios as well as technologies that will be applied to specific space missions. Manned, pressurized rovers will be an important element supporting human lunar exploration, which we envision will take place in the 2030s. We aim at launching such a rover into space in 2029.”

Regardless of the challenges, the Toyota Moon Rover looks to be a great concept to extend the range of future astronauts and also serve as a critical part of future lunar surface missions.

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