Science crew operations and utility testbed

The habitation, development, and exploration of lunar and martian environments will require a human and equipment surface transport vehicle. Although a human surface transport vehicle was designed and used on the Apollo missions, the capabilities required to support the build-up, maintenance, and exploration activities associated with a prolonged stay on the lunar and martian surfaces will require the development of a new vehicle with significantly greater performance capabilities. A multiuse planetary rover will prove very useful when transporting humans and equipment. The equipment transported by the planetary rover can be used by crewmembers to perform shortand long-term scientific endeavors. Riding instead of walking on the planetary rover to get to a remote location of interest will allow crewmembers to conserve important spacewalk suit consumables required to sustain life in the harsh lunar and martian environments, and will allow them to conduct spacewalk activities at a higher performance level for longer periods time.