NASA chooses 3 companies to design lunar rovers for Artemis astronauts

Astronauts in the Artemis Mission Program 5 are expected to drive the Lunar Rover on the Moon for the first time in 2030.

Recently, the US Space Agency, NASA, selected three private research groups led by Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab respectively – to develop versions of the Vehicle. Lunar Terrain Terrain (LTV), which Artemis Program astronauts will drive around the Moon’s south pole in 2030.

NASA wants to have a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) on the Moon, when the Artemis 5 crew arrives there in 2030. (Photo: Lunar Outpost)

“We look forward to the development of Artemis generation lunar exploration vehicles to help us advance what we learn on the Moon. These vehicles will greatly enhance the ability of our astronauts to explore, and conduct scientific research on the lunar surface.,” Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, said in a statement.

In the immediate future, each private research team led by Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab will develop its own Lunar Terrain Vehicle over the next 12 months, after which the vehicles will participate. participate in important demonstrations and tests, before Artemis 5 Program astronauts reach around the Moon’s south pole in 2030.

NASA officials also wrote in a statement: “NASA is expected to award the award to only one outstanding supplier, following critical, extreme test demonstrations”.

The selected team will not only be responsible for building the Lunar Rover, but will also be responsible for helping take it to the Moon’s south pole, and it will be the first American Lunar Vehicle since the Lunar Vehicle. Lunar rover, launched on the Apollo 15 mission in 1971.

To date, NASA has launched one Artemis Program mission – Artemis 1, which will send an Orion spacecraft to lunar orbit (and back) in late 2022. Artemis 2 is scheduled to launch four missions. astronaut orbits the Moon in September 2025, and Artemis 3 will launch near the Moon’s south pole a year later, if all goes according to plan. And NASA wants a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) on the Moon, so that the Artemis 5 crew will fly it around the Moon’s south pole by 2030.

HUYNH DUNG (Source: Space)