NASA unveils lunar concept vehicle

HOUSTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency unveiled its latest lunar concept vehicle that has six-wheel drive, but no doors, windows or seats -- and only comes in the color gold.

Built at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the vehicle provides an idea of what the transportation possibilities might be when astronauts start exploring the moon by 2020. Other than a few basic requirements, the primary instruction given to the designers was to throw away assumptions made on NASA's previous rovers and come up with new ideas.

The vehicle includes six wheels that can pivot individually in any direction, researchers said. That feature, called crab steering, is designed to allow astronauts to drive into a lunar crater sideways if the crater's slope is too great.

The vehicle is designed to have the driver stand at the steering mechanism, since sitting in a spacesuit is not comfortable or practical, NASA said. The astronaut's perch -- steering mechanism, driver and all -- can pivot 360 degrees.

Images of rover technology in development are available at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/main/lunar_truck.html