For the first time, our rover Asimov Jr. got to enjoy the sunny beach at the Elbe in downtown Hamburg. Cruising around the beach is nothing you would normally expect a moon rover prototype to do. As you know from our blog, the surface of the moon consists of regolith, which is made of much smaller particles than any grain of sand you could find on earth.

So why did we do this?
First, of course, it's tons of fun and even while not like being real regolith you can still learn quite a lot about your electronics and wheels. Secondly, we had the excellent opportunity to present ourselves to the spying cameras of RTL Nord, the regional branch of RTL, one of the biggest TV networks in Germany. :-) The interview already aired and is available in German.

What did we learn?
Our interim batteries were lead based and did not perform very well. To get more power for our testings and longer duty cycles we developed an all new battery pack especially for Asimov Jr. R2! And the results were astonishing. Not just could Asimov free itself from a gap in the sand, but it also lasted a very long time. So long we almost drove it into the water and shooed off some ducks! ;-) What we learned is that driving on the beach can be quite an instructive experience for a lunar rover.