LA-Based CGI Artist Imagines a Future Where Humans Race Vehicles on Mars

Imagine for a moment that you’re a settler on a growing Mars colony, and you’re a bit bored. Since it’s Saturday, you and a few other members decided to have some fun racing. Remember, you’re on Mars, so all that is bound to be a bit different.

One way your race day could unfurl is the way Daniel Trbovic reveals in the gallery and video below. Mr. Trbovic is a CGI artist and photographer living out of Los Angeles, California. Aside from creating renderings like these, he also travels the world photographing vehicles, everything from old-school Chevys to McLarens and everything in-between.

The visual project you see here is known as "Nomads on Mars," so let’s call these vehicles Nomads, even though there isn’t a clear mention of this. Actually, there’s no mention of anything regarding the vehicles, just these images and the video.

However, the video alone is enough to give you an idea of what these vehicles are and how they’re supposed to perform. Starting from the ground up, the first thing you’ll notice is the wheel design. Unlike classic wheel design, Trbovic chose to include a hub-less wheel.

Because of this design feature, the Nomad is probably an electric drive vehicle with not one but four separate motors, one in each wheel; the lack of an engine compartment sustains this theory. If you think about it, having four motors should offer a level of control rarely seen amongst traditional vehicles.

Looking at the Nomad's body, there isn’t much to see. An odd teardrop shape seems to offer a degree of aerodynamics, while the minimal appearance of a frame means only one thing: speed. Because the vehicle includes only a few struts here and there and is mostly covered in glass, it’s probably quite light.

Since I mentioned aerodynamics earlier, I must ask if you’ve any idea what those lateral fans found at the rear could be used for. No? Me neither. However, if you think about where you may have seen this sort of system before (helicopters), you can kind of get an idea about what they may be used for.

One use for these fans could be to offer lateral stability at high speeds. If the Nomad is going too fast and starts to fishtail, the fans can kick in to correct the loss of traction. Their next use could be to intentionally create a loss of traction, like taking a very sharp turn where the rear end needs to be whipped around quickly.

Another use I feel may be available (but isn’t sustained by any research) is that of creating a more aerodynamic structure around the vehicle. Aside from the fans creating lateral stability, when their flow of air is being pushed outward, they should be able to create a sort of air cushion that could, in theory, push against any oncoming flow of air, redirecting air away from the body.

There are a few flaws in this theory. If this were to be true, a mechanism such as this should be placed at the front of the vehicle to push air as far away from remaining surfaces as possible.

A final feature of the Nomad is that of autonomous operation. Sure, there are two seats inside, telling you that you can take these trinkets out for a spin, side-by-side style. On the other hand, the animation shows these puppies flying around without a single driver in sight. They’re either autonomous or can be controlled remotely.

Personally, I'd love to see a design such as this flying around desert landscapes. But I also know that I probably won’t be seeing anything like this in my lifetime. For now, let's just enjoy the (virtual) show.