Astronauts will explore moon for up to 14 days inside new vehicle.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 20, 2009) U.S. POOL -
At the tail end of President Barack Obama's Inaugural Parade in
Washington, DC, Tuesday (January 20), NASA introduced a new vehicle designed
to carry the space agency to the forefront of interplanetary exploration.

The Lunar Electric Rover is a prototype vehicle that will allow
astronauts to conduct research for up to 14 days. It includes 12 separate
wheels, a bubble window in the front for close viewing of the surface, and a .
In order for astronauts to remain on the surface for that long, they will need
to be able to both exercise and relax when they're not on duty, according to
Project Engineer Mike Gernhardt, himself an astronaut who has been on four
Space Shuttle Missions.
"It's ten cubic meters in volume," Gernhardt said from inside
the Rover. "You see the central aisle here, it's tall enough for a tall
person such as myself - I'm six two and a half - to easily walk up and down
the aisles. On the sides we have these bunks, or benches, and the seats
actually fold down to form a bunk, more like a recliner. For example, at the
end of a long day, you can sit back, we're going to have a tv monitor here.
You can do your email, fill out your forms. It's very comfortable."

NASA hasn't send humans to the moon since the Apollo program of the
1960's and 70's, and the agency doesn't plan to send astronauts back to the
moon until 2020. When they do arrive, however, they will explore the lunar
surface and lay the foundation for a human space installation on the moon's
South Pole. That installation will in turn serve as a springboard for a manned
space trip to Mars.

In October 2008, the prototype Lunar Electric Rover was tested in the
desert at Black Point Lava Flow, Arizona. Engineers drove the vehicle in
terrain similar to the moon's, and were pleased with its performance. The
rover is run by a plug-in electric Lithium-ion battery. NASA is sharing its
technology with the U.S. automobile industry.

On the back of the rover are two space suits, which are attached to the
rear wall of the main cabin. Astronauts enter the space suits from inside the
cabin. This is one of the chief advantages the rover has versus the Apollo era
vehicles. Those earlier vehicles were not pressurized, which limited the
length of time astronauts could explore the moon's surface. Also, in the new
vehicle, it only takes ten minutes for an astronaut to get out of the vehicle
and on to the surface. By comparison, it takes an astronaut six hours to
prepare for a space walk outside the shuttle. Project Engineer Gernhardt
explains how the new system works.
"When we see a sample we want to collect, we can quickly come back
here, the suits are already checked out and powered up. We open this hatch,
and we open the backpack or back hatch of the suit, and there is the space
suit. So you're literally using these handholds, step into the suit. Once
you're in there's a lever outside that will close the back hatch."

The astronaut can then detach from the rover, free to explore the lunar
surface on foot. To get back inside the pressurized rover, the astronaut
literally plugs himself back into the hatch and pulls himself back in.

The rover's six pairs of wheels can be moved either in unison or
separately, the latter known as "crabbing". The vehicle has a top
speed of approximately 15 kilometers per hour. NASA says the new vehicle is a
significant advancement in the way human planetary surface exploration can be
conducted.