Hyundai Motor, a South Korean automaker, said on Thursday that it has started working on a lunar exploration mobility rover in conjunction with a number of South Korean aerospace research institutions. 

In a statement on its website, the company said: "Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) today announced that it has started building an initial development model of a lunar exploration mobility rover in tandem with aerospace partners."

The rover will be specially made to study the Moon's surface, the statement adds, and it will be "equipped with various advanced technologies with the goal to deliver a universally applicable mobility platform to handle a variety of payloads." It has "solar charging, autonomous driving, thermal management, and radiation shielding" and has a carrying capacity of up to 70 kg of gear. 

The rover's prototype is anticipated to be completed in the second half of 2024, and the rover will be prepared for flight in 2027, as per the company. 

It is worth noting that Hyundai Motor announced that it had inked a joint multilateral research agreement with six South Korean aerospace research institutes, namely the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, "to run and support a consultative body to develop a new generation of space vehicles."