Planetary Transportation Systems

They became the first German team to officially enter the Google Lunar X-Prize competition on June 24, 2009,[1] but failed to reach the finals in 2017 for lack of a launch contract.

[5] As of April 2018, the European Space Agency was studying six private companies, including PTScientists, to work on potential ISRU payload delivery to the Moon surface by 2025.

On August 22–23, 2009, the PTScientists presented their project at the Open Doors Day of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research.

[10][11] Early 2015 the team won awards in the categories Mobility and Vision, and a total of $750,000 in the Milestone Prizes of GLXP.

[13][14] As a result of this cooperation, the two identical rovers were named Audi Lunar Quattro during the 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

[21][22] The rovers feature four-wheel drive tranmision where each wheel is able to pivot 360° for special maneuvers, and their solar panel is able to tilt in the direction of the Sun for best power generation.

The rovers' projected maximum speed is 3.6 km/h (2.2 mph), and they will carry two stereo cameras to acquire 3D images, mounted to a moving head at the front of the vehicle.

[23][7] In turn, the lander will communicate with Earth Control using the European Space Operations Centre (ESTRACK) network.

[16] In addition of hardware for a live video broadcast, the lander and rovers will carry commercial or scientific instruments for a fee.

[26] The experiment will try to grow Arabidopsis (a flowering plant), basil, sunflowers, and turnips in a sealed "biosphere" cylinder about 10 cm in diameter with life-support systems.