Artist’s concept of NASA’s next-generation Lunar Terrain Vehicle on the surface of the Moon.
NASA has put out a call for private industry to help it build a next-generation moon buggy as part of its $90 billion-plus program to put U.S. astronauts back on the lunar surface in the late-2020s.
The space agency is building towards crewed landings on the moon, but so far it lacks the hardware to do anything but reach lunar orbit. A next-generation LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) would allow its astronauts to explore the moon’s South Pole—the intended destination for its Artemis missions because of the possible presence of water—and conduct more science, according to NASA.
Walking on the moon
Last week it awarded a $3.4 billion contact to a consortium led by Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin to construct a reusable lunar lander that could put its astronauts on the lunar surface during the agency’s Artemis V mission, scheduled for 2029.
Selected by NASA in April 2021 SpaceX is now building its Starship human landing system (HLS) for the final leg of the Artemis III mission, scheduled for 2025, during which the first humans will descend to the surface of the Moon since 1972’s Apollo 17 mission. It will also be used for the following crewed lunar mission, Artemis IV, which is scheduled for for 2027.
Fostering innovation
Likewise, NASA doesn’t want to own its new moon buggy. “We want to leverage industry’s knowledge and innovation, combined with NASA’s history of successfully operating rovers, to make the best possible surface rover for our astronaut crews and scientific researchers,” said Lara Kearney, manager of NASA’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA’s emphasis is very much on using its contracts to help foster innovation and ultimately create the infrastructure that allows a private space industry to flourish. NASA’s Apollo missions and space exploration program—which has involved dozens of private companies—has been responsible for the development of everything from GPS, telecommunications satellites and shock absorbers for buildings to wireless headsets, CAT scans and air purifiers.
The Apollo 15 lunar rover, a four-wheeled vehicle used by the astronauts to travel over the moon’s … [+]
Beyond Apollo
NASA wants its next moon buggy to go beyond vehicles used in the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions to help it visit the 95% of the moon that remains unexplored.
The agency said it needs to be a cross between an Apollo-style lunar rover and a Mars-style uncrewed rover, supporting moonwalks and exploration by astronauts, but also able to work autonomously just as Perseverance and Curiosity rovers do on Mars.
One of its jobs will be to transport cargo and scientific payloads between crewed landing sites. Another will be resource prospecting—searching for water in the shadowed regions of the moon’s South Pole, some of which never see sunlight.
Darkness is always a challenge anywhere on the moon, where night lasts for two weeks and temperatures plummet to -280ºF. During the two-week days, temperatures reach 260ºF.
The Contenders
There are plenty of contenders in the U.S. to build NASA’s moon buggy.
In May 2021, space industry veterans Lockheed Martin and General Motors announced a joint project to design and build a rover while California-based startup Astrolab revealed in March 2022 that it is building the car-sized FLEX (Flexible Logistics and Exploration) rover with a modular payload system inspired by conventional containerized shipping.
Huntsville, Alabama-based Teledyne Brown Engineering—together with Sierra Space and Nissan North America—announced in April 2022 that work had begun on a moon buggy. Teledyne has previously provided power systems for both Curiosity and Perseverance.
Proposals for the LTV services contract are due July 10 and the contract is expected to be awarded in November.
The U.S. isn’t the only space-faring nation dreaming of lunar exploration. The China Academy of Space Technology is working on a 40 kg, four-wheeled Cubic Emergency Lunar Vehicle of China (CELV) buggy can be tucked in the back of a regular, two-person roving lunar vehicle, according to the South China Morning Post.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
