Venturi commits to space sector

Having spent 20 years innovating in the field of high-performance electric vehicles on Earth, Venturi is now also applying its knowledge and experience to the challenges of space. To enable this move, Gildo Pastor took two strategic decisions.

The first of these was to co-found Venturi Lab with Dr Antonio Delfino, former Head of the Chemistry and Physics Department and Fellow at Michelin. Based in Switzerland, Venturi Lab invents, studies, designs and manufactures mobility solutions capable of handling the extreme environmental conditions found on the Moon and Mars. These solutions will use all types of propulsion compatible with hostile environments. In developing its technologies, Venturi Lab works very closely with Venturi in Monaco and Venturi North America in Columbus (Ohio, US) as well as with a 100% American company based in California: Venturi Astrolab. The primary objective of the latter is to build a rover for the forthcoming NASA and SpaceX lunar missions.

And this brings us to Gildo Pastor’s second strategic decision: to create a partnership with Venturi Astrolab. As part of this partnership, engineers from Venturi Monaco, Venturi North America and Venturi Lab are developing batteries and materials that can withstand and operate at extremely low temperatures, solar panels, deformable wheels, electric vehicle control systems and the integration of human factors for planetary rovers. Venturi North America is specifically responsible for battery testing.

Relying on its strategic partners across the Atlantic, Venturi Astrolab hopes to supply its vehicles to NASA. For its part and in parallel, Venturi Lab is working with Thales Alenia Space (France) and Beyond Gravity (formerly known as RUAG Space) in Zurich (Switzerland). These collaborations will enable Venturi Lab to test space technologies and present them to the European Space Agency (ESA). Over the long term, Venturi Lab also aims to invent technologies that will help to reduce land-based, maritime and atmospheric pollution.

The first concrete joint achievements of Venturi Lab and Venturi Monaco will be announced in detail in the coming months.

“Since 2001, we have been creating high-performance two-and four-wheel vehicles – and even tracked vehicles – that can operate at -50° C or up to 549 km/h depending on the model. Today, I am putting our expertise and resources in the service of space research, a field where excellence is the norm. I want to fly the Monegasque flag ever higher,” said Gildo Pastor, President of Venturi and Venturi Lab.

“Our discussions with Gildo Pastor on the possibility of sending a multifunctional electric rover to the Moon and then on to Mars began in 2018. Four years later, together with the Venturi teams in Monaco and the teams at Venturi Astrolab in Los Angeles, we are set to enthusiastically study, develop and build a rover that will be able to transport astronauts and operate on very uneven terrain, where temperatures are generally around -160°C,” said Dr Antonio Delfino, Director and member of the Board at Venturi Lab; member of the Venturi Astrolab Board of Advisors.