In the introductory video report of this article, you can see one of the designs of the lunar rover, which could be used by the first astronauts who, after more than half a century since the last Apollo mission, are to return to the moon as part of the new Artemis program.
“I am pleased to announce that after a very exciting and rigorous selection process, NASA has selected three awardees to equip the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV). The honorees are Intuitive Machines, represented by CEO and co-founder Steve Altemus, followed by Lunar Outpost, represented by Justin Cyrus, CEO and founder, and Venturi Astrolab, represented by CEO and founder Jaret Matthews. Congratulations to you,” says Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, in an introductory report to this article.
Lunar rover for 100 billion
This is how the American space agency named the three local companies that will develop the new lunar vehicle already in April. And the editors of SZ Tech now bring a comprehensive summary of everything that the institution itself, as well as the heads of these companies, have revealed about it. Among other things, they are attracted by the fact that they will be able to use the rover for their own commercial purposes when the astronauts do not need it. This is not usual.
You can view the footage in the introductory video report, which also includes all the information, including a description from representatives of the American space agency and selected companies.
For development, construction and use, NASA will give up to 4.6 billion dollars, which translates to over 100 billion crowns. However, the amount will be divided between the companies, with the most significant share going to only one of them.
“They will compete for the so-called demonstrator stage. In that, they will be able to complete the development, send the LTV to the Moon and test it on the surface even before the arrival of the crew of the Artemis 5 mission. We assume that we will be able to allow this demonstration phase to only one of these companies,” Lara Kearneyová explains further in the SZ Tech video. NASA’s program manager for lunar surface missions and transportation of astronauts.
When will the vehicle look at the moon?
The contract does not specify when exactly the companies should deliver the rovers or how many there will be. Each of the selected companies now has the task of preparing a feasibility study within one year. And from the proposals, NASA will then choose a winner who will get to the demonstrator phase, or the first test on the lunar surface.
The Artemis 5 mission, during which the final version of the rover will be sent to the South Pole of the Moon with astronauts, is currently planned for March 2030. And NASA wants to use it as part of this concluded contract until 2039.
“Better mobility fundamentally changes our world. It changes where you can go. It changes what you can do. Simply put, it changes what you can learn. As astronauts explore the South Pole region of the Moon during our Artemis missions,” explains Jacob Bleacher, NASA’s team leader of scientists, in the SZ Tech report.
“They will get further and be able to do more scientific research than ever before. Imagine a hybrid of an Apollo-style lunar rover piloted by our astronauts and some kind of unmanned mobile science platform. This will allow the crew to travel much further from the landing site. In addition, LTV will provide autonomous operations for science and technology during unmanned operations,” added Wyche.
What can a lunar vehicle do?
According to NASA, the new lunar rover will have to manage the challenging environment of the South Pole of the Moon. At the same time, it will also be equipped with autonomous systems, i.e. self-management so that it can manage scientific research and other activities by itself.
“We aim to exceed the requirements from NASA. I can tell you that some of them need to go 15 kilometers per hour to go over 20 kilometers on a single charge. And it was also able to be a full support for an eight-hour spacewalk (EVA). These are the basic requirements, and I repeat again that we want to significantly exceed all of them,” Jaret Matthews, CEO and founder of Venturi Astrolab, revealed further.
“One of our requirements is that we must not stray more than 10 meters on the lunar surface at any given moment. And without any infrastructure. There are no GPS satellites on the moon, we don’t have a communication infrastructure,” Justin Cyrus, CEO and founder of Lunar Outpost, describes the challenge.
“And that’s now not only critically important to the safety of astronauts, but it’s going to be an amazing technology that I think we can bring here to Earth as well. Hopefully, this will contribute to the adoption of autonomous vehicles in the future. It could be. And not only with self-driving cars on the roads, but also in some of such unclear and undefined environments,” he added.
Michelin also has a big say in space
“We have a number of subsystems that we’ve put into this initial design that we’ll show in 12 months. Thanks to them, we will better understand how to survive the night, how to function in it, how efficient solar panels are compared to fuel cells, what the drivetrain should look like and how long the batteries will last. What must be the suspension and especially the tires. We are also working with Michelin on this, which has already done a lot of work with Glenn’s research center on lunar tires,” says Steve Altemus, CEO and co-founder of Intuitive Machines, in the introductory video.
At the same time, Intuitive Machines is the company that was the first private company in history to land on the moon, this February. Her module broke one of its legs when it landed and flipped over on its side, but it was still in operation for several days, de facto bringing the United States to the moon after 52 years.
With water from the moon to Mars
However, the first astronauts since the end of the Apollo program could return as part of the Artemis 3 mission, i.e. after the already completed unmanned lunar orbit with Artemis 1 and the planned orbit with pilots as part of Artemis 2, at the earliest in October 2026. At least that is what NASA is planning for now. Among other experiments and research, they will also look there for water needed not only for themselves or the cultivation of raw materials, but also for hydrogen as a fuel for the trip to Mars.
“The discovery of water on the moon holds promise for both science and human exploration. NASA wants to find out how much water is below the surface and if we have access to it. A better understanding of the sources and concentration of this water will help us learn how the Moon formed and evolved, and may provide resources for our future explorers,” he explains in Bleacher Report.
At the same time, NASA has already included a lot of private companies in its Artemis program, in which it wants to return a man to the moon and then to Mars. Until recently, it mostly cooperated with them only as suppliers of parts for its rockets, probes or modules. Its astronauts already fly to the International Space Station (ISS), but only in Crew Dragon ships from SpaceX. However, it also entrusts other key aspects of its missions to lesser-known companies.
“Our job is to deliver and integrate the EVA spacesuits that will be used to walk on the surface of the moon, then the LTV that we’re commissioning here today, and the pressurized rover. Together, these three elements will form the first elements on the surface for astronauts on the first Artemis missions,” adds Kearney in the introductory video.
NASA is relying more and more on the private sector in space
“They will board the Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System rocket and lift off from the spaceport at the Kennedy Space Center,” Wyche said.
And its astronauts will then fly to the new, this time the Gateway lunar orbiting station by rocket and ship from NASA, which will be gradually lifted again by SpaceX in its Falcon Heavy rocket. And then cooperation with private companies continues. Astronauts will transfer from Orion to Gateway and from there to the new Starship, also from SpaceX, which will serve as the so-called lunar lander or landing module for the Artemis 3 mission. also serve the Blue Moon ship from Blue Origin.
“Our astronauts, engineers, operations and medical teams are working with other commercial and international partners on vehicles and systems that will support sustainable lunar missions. Johnson Space Center is proud to lead other critical elements of the Artemis program backbone, including the commercial transport of shipments to the lunar surface that provide robotic missions, Gateway, which is humanity’s first space station around the Moon, as well as our commercially supplied exploration spacesuits, ” she added.
And what will humanity actually do there, apart from searching for water again? Perhaps even collecting samples of lunar dust and rocks, the so-called regolith, which is more important than it might seem at first glance.
“The lunar samples from the Apollo program fundamentally changed our view of the solar system and our place in its evolution. To this day, scientists continue to uncover new insights from these samples. The variety of samples from the Apollo program increased as the lunar vehicle allowed a larger area of the surface to be explored. It is precisely to increase this diversity of knowledge from the Moon that we are striving for even now,” SZ Tech Bleacher from NASA adds in the report.
Companies such as Blue Origin, for example, have already stated that they can make efficient solar panels from lunar dust, and thus want to build factories and mine materials in space, which, even with available water and hydrogen for rocket fuel, could make the conquest of other bodies even more accessible and faster, and planets, including Mars.
