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Suzuki is helping out in the Moon race! They sealed a corporate partner contract with Hakuto (managed by iSpace), Japan’s first privately funded lunar exploration team who are participating in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition. The mission is landing the lunar rover on the surface, making it travel at least 500 meters and transmit high resolution video and still image data back to Earth, and Suzuki is currently exploring the possibilities of providing technical support to the rover team Hakuto is developing.
To complete the mission, it’s imperative that they make the rover as light as possible in order to reduce the cost of the launching and that they make sure it will be able to cover the distance without slipping on the regolith covering the Moon’s surface. Suzuki is currently examining the possible application of their technology developed for small cars and four-wheel drive cars, such as traction control and weight decreasing, to support team Hakuto.
Comment from Toshihiro Suzuki (Suzuki Motor Corporation President & CEO)
“We are honored to be able to support Hakuto’s dream of exploring the Moon’s surface. Suzuki has been contributing to our society with small cars, and being sympathetic toward Hakuto, who are fighting for their dream with a small rover, we decided to support this project. We are looking forward to the successful exploration of the Moon’s surface with a rover that uses Suzuki technology.”
Comment from Takeshi Hakamada (Hakuto’s leader & representative)
“Lightweightness and four-wheel drive technology is essential, and I am utterly grateful to have Suzuki as a partner. Suzuki is currently examining how to utilize their know-how and technology used in making small cars for Hakuto’s rover.”
About Suzuki
Suzuki is a world-renown transportation equipment maker known mostly for their two- and four-wheeled vehicles and outboard motors. Suzuki adheres to its topmost company policy of “building products of value by considering consumers’ needs.” The company was established in 1909 as Suzuki Loom Works, making their advance into the motorbike industry with Power Free in 1952. Since the release of the Suzulight in 1955, Suzuki has been striving to build small, lightweight cars with low fuel consumption and minimal environmental impact, such as the popular Alto, Wagon R, or Swift models.
About Hakuto
The only Japanese team participating in Google Lunar XPRIZE, Hakuto, managed by iSpace, is a collection of talented people with various backgrounds such as ventures, scholarly, and philanthropic activities. Combining their special skills, they are working on developing a lunar rover to become the first privately funded lunar exploration with the “au x Hakuto Moon Challenge” project. In January 2015, the team received a Milestone Prize, the Mobility Prize for their technology developing a rover with sufficient abilities to complete the mission.
About Google Lunar XPRIZE
Supported by Google and organized by XPRIZE, Google Lunar XPRIZE or Moon 2.0 is an international prize competition in privately funded unmanned lunar exploration with a total of $30 million in prizes. The first team who completes the mission—creating a purely privately funded robot that can land on the Moon, travel for 500 meters, and transmit high-resolution videos and still images back to Earth—wins $20 million, and the second team $5 million. There are currently 16 teams from all over the world in the competition.
Source: @Press
