TOKYO – Hyundai Motor Group has mastered the highways and byways on land and has even based an organization to make electrical air autos that may take to the sky.

Now, Hyundai and Kia intention to “slip the surly bonds of earth.”

The South Korean automakers stated Wednesday they may collaborate with a gaggle of analysis institutes to develop “mobility options” for the moon.

Consultations are anticipated to raise off as early as August and draw from the group’s robotics experience. Efforts will concentrate on exploration tools, software program and distant communication.

Hyundai and Kia will work with six organizations: the Korea Atomic Vitality Analysis Institute, the Korea Aerospace Analysis Institute, the Korea Astronomy and House Science Institute, the Korea Automotive Know-how Institute, the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Constructing Know-how, and the Electronics and Telecommunications Analysis Institute.

The carmakers didn’t provide specifics concerning the imaginative and prescient, similar to a timeline for touchdown on the moon or whether or not a rover is perhaps human-driven or remote-controlled. The announcement follows South Korea’s launch of a domestically produced rocket in June.

“We’ll increase the scope of human motion expertise past conventional technique of transport and past the bounds of Earth to additional contribute to the progress of humankind and assist create a greater future,” Yong Wha Kim, head of the R&D Planning & Coordination Heart for Hyundai Motor and Kia, stated in an announcement.

The automakers stated there may be a lot to study from growing autos for the tough moonscape — a rugged regolith rocked by excessive temperatures and bombarded by radiation.

“Whereas it poses vital challenges to the event of floor exploration mobility, it additionally supplies the final word proving floor and can ship invaluable classes for Hyundai and Kia to additional speed up the supply of sensible and sustainable mobility options on earth,” the assertion stated.

Hyundai Motor Group shouldn’t be alone in its extraterrestrial ambitions.

Toyota Motor Corp. stated in 2019 that it might discover its personal moon mobility. Its idea — a six-wheeled, pressurized, hydrogen-powered moon rover — is named the Lunar Cruiser.