Audi Aims for the Moon

Audi AG is assisting a team of independent engineers, dubbed The Part-Time Scientists, to land a vehicle on the moon. The team hopes to win a $30 million prize in the Google Lunar XPrize challenge by sending a vehicle to the moon and using it to traverse more than 1,600 ft of the surface and transmit high-definition video and images back to Earth.

Propelled by a launch rocket, the five-day flight is tentatively scheduled for 2017. The more than 236,000-mile trip will culminate north of the moon's equator, near the Apollo 17's landing site in 1972 NASA's last lunar mission.

The Audi-supported Part-Time Scientists team's lunar quattro is made mainly of aluminum. An adjustable 100-Watt solar panel provides energy to a lithium-ion battery that powers four electric wheel hub motors. The vehicle has a top speed of about 2 mph, can scale 10 slopes and has swiveling wheels to make 90 turns.

To record and examine lunar materials, the vehicle will be equipped with two stereoscopic cameras and a special-purpose scientific camera.

Audi engineers are contributing their expertise in lightweight construction, all-wheel-drive technology and electrified vehicles. The carmaker also will assist in testing, trials and quality assurance.

The Part-Time Scientists team was formed in 2008 by Robert Bohme, who is an IT consultant in Berlin. It now consists of about 35 engineers, mainly from Germany and Austria. In addition to Audi, other external supporters include the Technical University of Berlin, NVIDIA, the Austrian Space Forum, the German Aerospace Center and former NASA employee Jack Crenshaw.