This is a prototype of the next “moon buggy” that NASA is developing:
How cool is that thing? It’s a little retro looking, but I think there are some great features.
Although GW really kicked off the new return to the Moon initiative I don’t think that he was really too keen on diverting a little money from the wars we’re fighting to get these new projects up and running. There have already been several schedule slips in the development of the new rocket technologies that will be used to get us to the Moon. I hope our next President will expand the funding of these things. I get so excited when I see that there [i]is[/i] work being done on these projects!
Actually, it is looking more and more like Obama will (rightfully) kill the Orion project. Orion / Ares is pretty much dead in the water… they\’ve had so many problems with the design that they can\’t get around and the only reason it\’s being pushed forward is that it was NASA\’s director\’s baby. Look for him to get handed a pinkslip about 14 hours after the inauguration. 😉 They\’ll likely extend the shuttle mission for a few more years while working up a new solution, which will likely be the Falcon Heavy/Dragon.
Check this out: http://www.transterrestrial.com/?p=15515 pretty good read.
And this buggy is very cool, btw. I want one.
Wow! That’s really depressing. I really didn’t know how bad things were with the development of the new systems.