NASA has greenlit three companies – Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab – to develop the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) as part of the agency’s Artemis campaign. This campaign aims at enviar crewed teams to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 in 1972. The first of these missions, Artemis 1, kicked off on November 16, 2022, with Artemis 2–5 slated for 2025 to 2029 respectively. The lunar rover is expected to be deployed during the Artemis 5 mission.
Vanessa Wyche, the director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, has stated that the lunar exploration vehicle will take the organization’s knowledge about the Moon to a new level. The vehicle will augment the astronauts’ capacity to explore and conduct science on the lunar surface while also acting as a science platform for crewed missions. Importantly, the rovers will be instrumental in developing the vehicles for human exploration of Mars.
Before exploring Mars, one of the biggest challenges is navigating the hostile conditions at the Moon’s South Pole, a key area for the Artemis mission. This region is believed to contain water ice, a vital resource for long-term habitation on the lunar surface. To tackle the extreme conditions, the rovers will employ advanced technologies for power management, autonomous driving, and sate-of-the-art communication and navigation systems.
However, not all three companies are guaranteed to send a rover to the Moon. They will first participate in a year-long feasibility study to determine if their rovers can handle the lunar surface conditions, with the winning company getting to take part in Artemis 5. Once the rover lands on the moon, it will operate remotely to support NASA’s scientific objectives as needed, and when not being used by NASA, the company can utilize the vehicle for commercial moon applications such as space tourism.
According to Jacob Bleacher, Chief Exploration Scientist in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters Washington, the LTV will allow astronauts to reach locations inaccessible on foot, increasing their ability to make new scientific discoveries. He added that the Artemis crewed missions, along with the rovers’ remote operations, would facilitate year-round scientific exploration and discovery on the Moon.
