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NASA's Latest Electric Rover Is Drifting-Approved

Nancy Sinatra's boots might be made for walking, but NASA's new MRV is certainly made for drifting. Except they won't admit that and keep all the fun for themselves.
NASA Drifting MRV 1 photo
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
The Modular Robotic Vehicle was built by NASA in partnership with the automotive industry and stands as an all-electric, battery-powered rover that can drive itself. Boring, right? Not quite, because it can drift. Beat that, Google car!

Despite looking like a golf cart, the buggy is filled with cool tech, but NASA and the undersigned wouldn't have it any other way. I mean, engineers installed liquid-cooled motors in every wheel plus the whole thing is remote controlled and offers dynamic driver feedback. But who cares, when you can drift it like a boss?

All four wheels are built on independent modules, which allows NASA's EV rover to be a lot more agile than it looks. Did I mention drift?

Of course, I could start and tell you all about its 40 mph (64 km/h) top speed currently limited at just 15 mph (24 km/h). Or, I could go on and talk about the buggy's curb weight of 2,000 lbs (907 kg) or its boxy 7 ft x 5 ft (2.1 m x 1.5 m) dimensions.

None of the above makes any sense, especially not since the car can go sideways and also park in a tight spot between two cars as easy as stealing candy from a baby.

We can only imagine how fun it is to be a test driver for NASA, although we're not sure that position actually exists. Anyway, the guy in the video seems to be having tons of fun so nothing else matters.

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