The not-so-beautiful and the beast

Obama's new wheels are pretty impressive. The BBC News website has called it "The Beast" and details of security features are much like an air craft carrier's turning distance: classified intelligence.

Another super-vehicle will be participating at Obama's presidential inauguration parade next week, the 2020 Lunar Rover. NASA engineers have obviously focussed on function rather than form as it is far from beautiful.

The reported specifications for both vehicles are quite similar with an air-tight cabin and it's own oxygen supply.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10142956-48.html

Obama’s “Beast”
· Bullet proof glass
· Armoured body
· A separate oxygen supply
· A completely sealed interior to protect against a chemical attack
· Could withstand a rocket-propelled grenade
· Tyres are said to work flat in case they are shot at · Nicholas Trotta, the Assistant Director for the Office of Protective Operations of the Secret Service said, “…this car's security and coded communications systems make it the most technologically advanced protection vehicle in the world”

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/26/nasa-demos-2020s-12-wheeled-pressurized-lunar-rover-concept-ca/

2020 Lunar Rover
· Air-tight cabin
· Sleeps two
· Can accommodate 2 for up to two week trips
· Twelve-wheeled
· Battery powered
· Has robotic arms
· Does not require the astronauts to wear spacesuits.
· Speed of 6mph
· Can traverse over 600 miles on a single charge of its battery
· Big window (for viewing lunar landscape)


Perhaps Virgin Galactic will manufacture a prettier amalgam if they succeed in taking tourists to the moon by 2020.