WASHINGTON — NASA expects to continue using electric vans it acquired to transport astronauts to the pad for Artemis missions even though the vehicles’ manufacturer has gone out of business.
NASA awarded a contract to Canoo Technologies in 2022 for three Artemis Crew Transportation Vehicles, vans that the agency plans to use to ferry astronauts to the launch pad for Artemis missions. The vans, with a value of nearly $150,000 under the contract, were delivered to NASA in July 2023.
Canoo, however, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation Jan. 17, citing the inability to secure capital from a Department of Energy loan program or other sources. The company said it would immediately cease operations while a court-appointed trustee managed the liquidation of the company’s assets.
Canoo had long touted the NASA contract, despite its small size, as evidence of interest in its electric vehicles. “We would also like to thank NASA, the Department of Defense, The United States Postal Service, the State of Oklahoma and Walmart for their belief in our products and our company. This means a lot to everyone in the company,” Tony Aquila, chairman and chief executive of Canoo, in a statement about its Chapter 7 filing.
The company had faced financial problems for some time. Shortly after winning the NASA contract for the vans in 2022, the company noted a “going concern” warning in regulatory filings because of continued losses that raised “substantial doubt” the company could continue operations for the next year. Executives said at the time they were working to raise additional capital.
The bankruptcy filing raised questions about the future use of the vans delivered to NASA. With the company out of business and only a small number of vehicles sold, the ability to maintain the vehicles appeared unclear.
NASA, for now, plans to continue using the vehicles. “Our vehicles are in working order for use during training activities and mission preparations,” a spokesperson for NASA Kennedy Space Center told SpaceNews. “NASA has worked with the manufacturer to train teams at Kennedy to operate and maintain many of the elements and the agency will review those plans as needed.”
The vehicles are part of the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program, which provides the infrastructure needed to support Artemis missions. Brad McCain, vice president and deputy program manager for the EGS program at Amentum, the lead contractor for EGS, said after a panel at the SpaceCom conference Jan. 29 that the program was in discussions with officials at Canoo on ways to continue support for the vans after the company’s bankruptcy.
The vans are presently only used by the Artemis program, which has yet to conduct a crewed launch. Boeing worked with Airstream to develop an “Astrovan II,” an updated version of the shuttle-era Astrovan, for its Starliner commercial crew missions. SpaceX uses vehicles from Tesla for transporting astronauts to the pad for Crew Dragon launches.
