Aluminium - Enriching A Billion Lives

“Sometime in late 2017, a tiny vehicle will blast into space from India on a 10-day journey to the moon. As it finally lands on the lunar surface some 238,900 miles later, its fate will rest entirely on four small aluminium parts in its shock absorbers. They need to work in a vacuum, with lubrication that doesn’t freeze or jam no matter what the angle. And if they fail, there’s no one to go up and fix it – meaning that eight years of work and $20m (£13.2m) in prize money will be lost in space.” - Late in the year 2015, The Guardian wrote about “Google Lunar XPrize: India's moonshot at the space race” and about Team Indus, India’s only representation at the prestigious competition. So, what is the Google Lunar XPrize and what is the big deal about it? For starters, it is one of the biggest competitions of robotic space exploration in the world in which any participating team has to: Successfully place a spacecraft on the moon’s surface Travel 500 meters Transmit hig...

Audi's latest project is to build a moon rover good enough to win the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition. Thanks to a sophisticated additive manufacturing process, they're well on their way. The wheels of the lightweight rover is made entirely of Aluminium alloy powder to cut down the weight and also help in navigating the harsh moon terrain. It has been calculated that a kilogram of payload to moon will cost 800,000 euros, and by using Aluminium, the rover’s weight can be reduced by 1.6 kgs which will allow additional 1.28 million euros worth of scientific equipment on board. The rules for the rover are straightforward but challenging. The rover has to successfully complete the 384,000-kilometer journey and land safely on the moon. Once there, the unit needs to complete at least a 500-meter drive on the surface, and send HD images back to earth that delivers new, never-seen views. They also have to launch before the end of 2017. That means the clock is ticking...