Entertainment

The Rover from 'Alien: Covenant' Will Actually Travel to the Moon

by Monica Hunter-Hart
Audi

The characters of the forthcoming film Alien: Covenant are going to navigate an uncharted planet full of monsters, so they’ll definitely need top-notch technology to help them out. When the movie finally hits screens around the world next month, you won’t be watching just some ole fictional droid telling them right from left (looking at you, C3PO), but a sleek, soon-to-be real moon rover made by Audi.

It’s called the “Audi lunar quattro,” the “quattro” indicating its all-wheel drive. The rover has both a solar panel and hybrid motor for power, and weighs only 66 pounds because it’s made of 85% aluminum created with a 3D metal printer. In Alien: Covenant, the real-life rover is getting some top Hollywood product placement: Audi says its vehicle will help Faris (Amy Seimetz) and the rest of the crew “assess the challenging, unknown terrain of a new planet.” But one day the lunar quattro will actually head into space for real.

Audi has been developing the rover since 2015 in collaboration with the German space company “Part-Time Scientists.” There’s no specific date set for the rover’s future trip to the moon, but it will likely be before the end of 2017, since Audi and PT Scientists are hoping to win Google’s Lunar X Prize by being the first to put an autonomous, privately-funded vehicle on the moon before next year.

Meet the lunar quattro.

Audi

Audi is pretty stoked about landing their product in one of the biggest sci-fi releases of the year.

“The Alien franchise is the best way for us to garner suitable attention for the Moon rover developed by Audi, and to showcase Audi’s intelligent technologies in a visionary environment,” Giovanni Perosino, Vice President International Marketing Communication at Audi, said.

In addition to the lunar quattro’s appearance in the film, Fox and Audi also made a standalone commercial to both showcase the rover and tease Covenant. If this scene is any indication, the lunar quattro will be able to alert the other characters to the presence of unidentified life forms. Watch it below.

Alien: Covenant will premiere in the UK on May 12 and the U.S. on May 19.

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