Toyota is collaborating with Japan’s space agency on a vehicle to explore the lunar surface, with plans to help people live on the moon by 2040 and subsequently on Mars, according to corporate officials.
The vehicle being built in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is dubbed Lunar Cruiser, and it is named after the Toyota Land Cruiser sport utility vehicle. It is scheduled to be released in the late 2020s.
The vehicle is built on the premise that humans can eat, work, sleep, and converse with others securely in cars, and that the same can be done in space, according to Takao Sato, Toyota Motor Corp.’s project manager for the Lunar Cruiser.
“We see space as a location for our once-in-a-generation revolution.” We may be able to build telecommunications and other technology that will be useful to human life by going to space,” Sato told The Associated Press.
Gitai Japan Inc., a Toyota-affiliated company, has created a robotic arm for the Lunar Cruiser that will undertake activities such as inspection and maintenance. Its “grapple fixture” allows the arm’s end to be altered, allowing it to function as various tools, scooping, lifting, and sweeping.
Gitai Chief Executive Sho Nakanose stated that while the challenge of blasting off into space has been solved, functioning in space implies significant costs and risks for humans. He believes that’s where robots can help.
Toyota has been concerned about losing a core business due to changing times since its inception in the 1930s. It has dabbled with real estate, boats, planes, and robots. Its Woven City net-connected sustainable living quarters near Mount Fuji, where building will begin this year.
The Japanese have an increasing obsession with the moon.
A private Japanese company called ispace Inc. is developing lunar rovers for landing and orbiting, with a moon landing planned for later this year. Yusaku Maezawa, a businessman who recently captured films of himself floating around in space, has scheduled an orbit around the moon aboard Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Starship.
Toyota engineer Shinichiro Noda expressed enthusiasm for the lunar project, which he sees as an extension of the automaker’s long-standing goal to serve customers, and the moon may supply significant resources for life on Earth.
“Our aim is to send our autos to the moon,” he explained. Toyota automobiles may be found practically anywhere. “But this is about driving our cars somewhere we’ve never visited before.”
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