Festival of Speed 2018 shoots for the Moon with ispace rover
· Lunar exploration rover joins star-studded lineup at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018 presented by Mastercard
· ispace’s groundbreaking four-wheeled, micro-robotic rover on display for the first time
· Visitors will be able to remotely control this small and agile vehicle using a tablet with interactive display in the Festival of Speed Future Lab
· Rover’s 360-degree camera system is designed to beam back HD color video and images from the Moon’s surface, for research missions
· FOS Future Lab open throughout Festival of Speed, from 12 – 15 July 2018, 7am – 7pm each day
The Festival of Speed 2018 presented by Mastercard will showcase a groundbreaking, remote-control space rover, which will explore the final frontier in a unique FOS Future Lab experience.
The four-wheeled rover – developed for ispace’s anticipated Moon landing in 2021, will be making its UK debut, giving FOS visitors an interactive glimpse into the future of space exploration.
Able to easily capture 360-degree, high-resolution color video and imagery from space and beam it back to earth, the rover has won admirers across the world for its ingenious design.
The ispace rover is part of this year’s FOS Future Lab – an interactive exhibition that highlights key future technology trends – and will feature alongside several exciting innovations, including a robotic bartender and architectural designs for proposed habitation on Mars.
Lucy Johnston, curator of Future Lab, said: “The ispace rover is one of the most exciting new developments in making space exploration more accessible for researchers; a result of learning from automotive innovation as much as it is drawing on expertise from aerospace.
“The FOS Future Lab is not only about celebrating the technology concepts of the future, it’s about actually experiencing it and we can’t wait for visitors to get their hands on the controls of this amazing piece of technology.”
The rover was one of five finalists in the hotly-contested Google Lunar XPRIZE competition, and ispace – the company behind the compact 8.3-pound vehicle – has broken records in its native Japan by raising nearly $95 million USD in Series A funding.
Not only will the buggy be on display – alongside footage of ispace’s wider vision for its Moon Valley concept, a proposed habitation programme for the moon – but visitors will be able to have a go at controlling the four-wheeled rover themselves, using just a tablet.
Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace, said: “We are very much looking forward to bringing our rover to the Goodwood Festival of Speed for its UK debut alongside other exciting displays. We can think of no better platform to showcase our technology and we hope not only to demonstrate to visitors what we are capable of doing now, but also to inspire future generations of engineers and space explorers.”
FOS Future Lab will be open to the public throughout the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which runs from the 12 – 15 July 2018, 7am – 7pm each day.
