Maneuvering alone in a desert landscape, a small robot moves, takes samples, records the surroundings, photographs them, and makes analyses.
The FLEX video presented on Friday summarizes what is required of a rover, the name given to these mobile robots destined to explore planets other than Earth.
But this rover designed by the Venturi house has an added benefit: it has its ticket to a lunar mission! The Monegasque group Venturi has just announced that its rover, dubbed FLEX, will be heading to the moon within three years.
A stage that in 2026 will write “the most impressive page” in the history of the company founded in Monaco by Gildo Pastor, who since 2000 has specialized in the design and manufacture of high-performance electric vehicles.
This FLEX rover, currently being designed, will be the technological companion to a SpaceX mission. The American company – founded by the eccentric billionaire Elon Musk – develops space activities and space flights.
His teams were seduced by the potential of the Venturi rover and were tasked with transporting it to the Moon for research, scientific experimentation and commercial activities. The machine will be launched into space via the Starship system developed by SpaceX.
A permanent outpost
Arrived safely, FLEX must be able to move semi-autonomously on the moon while still being able to respond to the controls of the astronauts at its side. In fact, the rover is designed to move a ton of material. It can also be controlled from the future station in lunar orbit, but also from Earth.
“FLEX is a logistics system capable of handling a variety of cargo. We believe this approach will enable the establishment of a permanent lunar outpost on the moon at a lower cost and in less time than anticipated,” said Jaret Matthews, Founder and CEO of Venturi Astrolab , “to demonstrate the advantages of the FLEX rover and its modular payload system”.
“The Largest and Most Powerful Lunar Vehicle”
The stays on the moon, where the temperatures fluctuate between -90° and -230°C, prove to be hostile. FLEX must be able to withstand the radiation or even operate for fifteen days in the darkness of the moon’s south pole.
It is with these reliability challenges that the Venturi teams are trying to find solutions to build “the largest and most efficient in lunar vehicle history”.
A project driven by the historic roots of the Venturi Group in Monaco and voiced by two other companies.
The group designs this electric machine, developed with a great deal of brainpower by engineers and scientists from the fields of space mobility, terrestrial and planetary robotics, development industry, advanced technology research, electromobility, fuel cells and batteries, hydrogen storage, composite materials and manufacturing processes.
A working team in favor of the Venturi Group, which, after leaving its mark in world speed records, in the design of innovative vehicles or in the Formula Electric World Championship, aspires to live there.