Advancing Humanity

The systems being developed in this desolate part of Iceland will soon be an integral part of the world’s most sophisticated off-road vehicle. Not this world through; it’s being developed for Mars. Robb Pritchard went to the land of fire and ice to see how Arctic Trucks was helping them do it.

- Robb Pritchard

At the foot of a range of barren mountains in the middle of Iceland, a domed tent houses a team of scientists operating a nearby robot. At first, controlling a buggy from a laptop might not seem too impressive but these scientists were working on something pretty mindblowing: the next Mars Rover.

However, first they need to get there.

Travelling to such a remote test site, far across treacherous alluvial glacier run-off, is not a job for a normal 4×4. And so the Mission Control team turned to one of the biggest players of extreme terrestrial offroading; Arctic Trucks.

Out of the capital, Reykjavik, away from the Viking-themed souvenir shops and the world’s most expensive beer, it doesn’t take too long for Iceland’s famously epic wilderness to start... and the tarmac to end. With the specially made 38 inch tyres at 0.8bar, driving feels like a cross between trying to predict the humorously vague steering of an old Land Rover and a hovercraft. But floating over the rough surface means we can easily do 50km/h where normal 4×4s would be crawling along wondering when they’d next get stuck in a patch of soft volcanic ash or have to winch over a ledge of solidified lava.

Unless you’re in a rally-raid, speed generally isn’t the most important element of off-roading. When you have thousands of kilometres to cover, however – such as traversing the Greenland ice caps or driving the 6 000km from the Antarctic coast to the South Pole – more speed means less time travelling, which in turn means you can carry fewer supplies. On a massive expedition, when percentage savings can mean tens of thousands of euros, it’s actually a real advantage.