In the 2nd pic, there seem to be two drip coffee makers integrated into the front bumper. Nice.

And I hope instead of blandly naming it Rover or Moon Buggy they call it the pushmi-pullyu.

Atrocious

I don't really think that second pic is real,, there is no track from the tire closest to us,, either before or after it
did it appear? or just photoshop

collin8579

not much ground clearance there now is it?

that driver better be good at navigating around anything larger then a roll of quarters

damnElantra

the control panel closest to the camera in the second picture is remarkably cheap-looking.

man in gauze is king ramses II, silly.

The guy in the back controls the Turret gun. See him taking aim at the mooninite off in the distance?

I_Sell_TVs

I imagine the second one tried to take care of the "OH MY GOD BILL! THERE'S A GIANT FOUR-HEADED ALIEN AFTER US! GO FASTER! FASTER I SAY!"-concept.
Alternatively, each of those two podiums controls only one side of the vehicle, and they can go in perfect circles all day long...

Hvedhrungr

The second one is a pimped out Segway

Ron21

Uh, didn't the specifically go with the woven steel tires on the first rover because it was strong and they wouldn't have to worry about getting a flat? and they're more durable?

jmurph05

Hey, those pics weren't taken on the moon! NASA's at it again...

Aleki

Looks like the tire top right is a little low on air and they are a long way away from a gas station.

Abnormal

I cant wait to see the look on the aliens face when they see that pimping rover rolling down the block!

HawkSkater0

Hah! The second picture looks just like that thingamajigy here [gizmodo.com]

Or am I missing something crucial here?

DarkPuppy

Am I missing something? Wouldn't a vehicle with tank treads be a more robust platform for exploring a crater covered moon? I'm sure NASA has thought of everything, so there must be a reason this thing has 12 tires instead of the battle tested treads that have been working in extreme conditions for over a half a century...

dna

@dna: "why no tank treads?"

weight? Just a guess.

newgalactic

Seriously, why doesn't NASA have corporate sponsorship. In what could be considered a good but scaled down civilian equivalent to NASA, that is NASCAR (or any professional racing), there's corporate sponsorship to the point of nausea. Not that I want to see "Intel Inside" plastered on the side of our Aries rocket, or "Chick-fil-A" tattooed to the bottom corner of our lunar rover, but It may help distribute costs. Treat those rover and rocket's external panels as exactly what they are, valuable realestate.

@collin8579:

There's no tracks for the first tire because they drove up first, then got off and walked around. Homeboy's footprints have marred up the tire tracks. No conspiracy or photoshop necessary.

newgalactic

here's the links to a story about the rover and some pics:

[www.nasa.gov]

[www.nasa.gov]

mlembeck

For some reason, the first rover reminded me of this:

net_addict