The sky is never the limit

Every vehicle Nissan creates puts practicality for the customer at the heart of its design. Typically, this means building cars, pickup trucks and vans that are perfect for everyday use by millions of people around the world. But sometimes, we like to let our imagination go above and beyond.

Sometimes we uncover a need for a new vehicle that certainly isn’t your everyday model, but still has a fantastically purposeful use, whether for business or leisure…or adventure. And where better to showcase this creativity than a major international motor show

Enter the out-of-this-world Nissan Navara Dark Sky Concept, which made its debut at the 2018 Hannover Motor Show. 

Born at Nissan Design Europe and developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), this world-first concept empowers astronomers to explore the universe from hard-to-reach locations on planet earth.

These ‘dark sky’ environments are exactly what they need to see deep into space. Light pollution can be a significant issue in urban areas, so to find the clearest, darkest conditions for stargazing, astronomers increasingly need to travel to remote locations far away from the disruptive influence of city lights.

We called on our pickup and towing expertise to help solve the problem. The result: a unique concept that includes, among other things, a world-first – an observatory-class telescope built into a bespoke off-road trailer.

The tough and rugged Nissan Navara is able to tow this purpose-built trailer to the desired location, where the telescope can focus on the night sky.

The concept vehicle then switches all internal and external lighting to the colour red – the last wavelength to be absorbed by the human eye – which consequently keeps light pollution to an absolute minimum.

This allows the incredible viewing power of the on-board PlaneWave telescope to take centre stage. It provides detailed views of the Moon’s surface, the rings of Saturn, distant galaxies and even dying stars known as “supernovas”.

The pickup truck’s on-board Nissan Intelligent Mobility features mean that astronomers can relay data instantly, allowing the concept to serve effectively as a mobile space laboratory.

Of course, with such a boldly ambitious scientific purpose, there were many factors to be integrated into the concept’s aesthetics. The design of the Nissan Navara Dark Sky Concept takes its inspiration from the cosmos. The dark exterior colour scheme features “parametric patterning” – a striking geometric design created using mathematical algorithms. 

The interior brings together the deep and mysterious hues of the night sky, accented by the flame-orange shades of a setting sun. Reflective orange piping on the seats aids visibility inside the Navara, further reducing the need for interior lighting that might disrupt the dark sky environment.

Unveiled to great acclaim at the 2018 Hannover Motor Show, this unique concept goes to show that sometimes we can have real fun with the design of a vehicle while also ensuring its practical use. When it comes to creating concepts at Nissan Design Europe – not even the sky is the limit!