Nissan's Sci-Fi Concept: Terranaut

Motoring Channel Staff - 2/Mar/2006

Looking like something straight out of a science fiction film, Nissan's Terranaut is a concept car that's been designed for the field scientist, featuring enough room to housethree operators – a pilot, co-pilot and lab technician/scientist.

Featuring a dome-topped satellite array, touch pad operated doors and even an air lock to contain airborne contagions, it's the ultimate field research companion.

Nissan explains that it's futuristic - if awkwardly boxy - looking concept shows how cars of the future could interact with the world in which we live; a manned, mobile science laboratory.

A creation of Nissan Design Europe (based in London), the overriding theme behind the concept is one of function. Project leader Felipe Roo Clefas said: “Terranaut has been designed for observation and communication in all four corners of the world.

Measuring almost 5 metres from stem to stern, the advanced four-wheel drive explorer stands 2.15m tall and is a plump 2.1m wide. These impressive external dimensions provide Terranaut with the interior space needed to house its laboratory equipment.

Inside the vehicle, a spherical science laboratory dominates the entire cabin area behind the two front seats (see photos). A single revolving seat with an integrated computer keyboard is situated beneath the glass roof dome and gives the scientist complete 360-degree access to the various workstations found in Terranaut, not unlike captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise.

The laboratory also incorporates a hemispherical display in front of the revolving seat which acts as a computer screen and data display panel and onto which can also be relayed images transmitted from the cameras attached to the vehicle. 

Other interesting features of the nerd-mobile can be found on the roof, including a circular housing for satellite positioning, transmitting and scanning equipment and a telescopic arm onto which a day/night view camera can be mounted. When fully extended this can transmit 360-degree ‘helicopter view’ images from around Terranaut to the vehicle itself and to expedition headquarters at the blink of an eye.

In addition to its techno-scientific features, the Terranaut is also a rugged off road vehicle, able to take its team of specialists - that could be geologists, biologists or zoologists - wherever they may need to go. With departure angle of 28.9 degrees and anapproach angle of 25.8 degrees, it'll go where most family sedans can't, and gets large 19-inch wheel rims with large tyres specially constructed for the Terranaut by Goodyear. According to Nissan and Goodyear, the tyres are puncture proof and feature an interesting variable air-pressure feature, affording the Terranaut with ample traction on road and off.

Nissan explains that the overall exterior design conforms to the expectations of a rugged 4x4, with short overhangs front and rear and the ample ground clearance needed to traverse inhospitable terrain. Reflecting the sorts of samples that might be brought into the laboratory for analysis, the design team have adopted the hexagon as a styling feature. The light clusters, front and rear, are all hexagonal while the jewel-like lights themselves appear to be gemstones.

There’s no conventional door at the back of Terranaut, either. Instead, centrally placed in the rear is an integrated air lock drawer into which the pilot or co-pilot outside the vehicle can place samples for clinical analysis by the scientist left inside the cabin.

As well as providing excellent visibility out of the vehicle, the deep rear window also houses external displays and touch screens for data access by those outside the vehicle. The exterior of Terranaut is dominated, however, by a glass dome over the rear portion of the roof and which marks the uppermost element of Terranaut’s science laboratory. As well as providing a window on the world for the occupants inside, the sphere doubles as an escape hatch should the ground beneath the vehicle give way for any reason.

Although designed as a mobile laboratory, NDE’s project team of six designers has ensured the vehicle provides a welcoming habitat for the three-man Terranaut team. While functional materials have been used extensively inside the cabin – the totally flat floor, for example, has an easy-to-clean rubberised covering – all surfaces with which the occupants are likely to come into contact feature soft-touch materials.

Touch pads used to open the doors electrically are covered with a tactile silicon finish while the seats, which all feature air vents in the base and backrests, are upholstered with ‘breathing’ fabrics. All told, it's