Three companies are competing for the opportunity to send their lunar rover to the moon in support of NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions. The This week, it selected Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab to develop lunar rovers (LTVs) in a feasibility study for next year. After that, only one is expected to be selected for the demonstration mission, where the vehicle will be completed and sent to the Moon for performance and safety tests. NASA plans to use LTV starting with the Artemis V crew, which is scheduled to launch in the early 2030s.
Ultimately, the LTV, headed for the lunar south pole, must function as both a crewed and uncrewed vehicle, sometimes serving as a vehicle for astronauts and other times as a remote-controlled explorer. NASA said it will contract the selected vehicle for lunar services by 2039, and all LTV-related tasks will reach a potential cost of $4.6 billion. The selected company will also be able to use the LTV for commercial activities.
Intuitive Machines, which will develop an LTV called Moon Racer, has already secured multiple contracts with NASA as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, and Odysseus, to the moon to achieve . Venturi Astrolab will develop a vehicle called Flex, while Lunar Outpost will work on an LTV called Lunar Dawn. All must be able to support a crew of two astronauts and withstand the extreme conditions of the Moon’s south pole.
“We will use the LTV to travel to places we would otherwise not be able to reach on foot, increasing our ability to explore and make new scientific discoveries,” said Jacob Blecher, NASA’s chief intelligence scientist.
