Texas group tapped for lunar rover study
Texas’ Intuitive Machines is among the three companies selected by NASA to develop an unpressurized rover that astronauts could drive on the moon.
Intuitive Machines, which became the first private company to make a soft lunar landing in February, Colorado-based Lunar Outpost and Californiabased Venturi Astrolab were selected for a yearlong feasibility study, the agency announced last week from NASA’S Johnson Space Center in Houston. They will each design a rover that can be driven by astronauts and operated remotely when humans aren’t on the moon.
At the end of the feasibility study, NASA will select one of the three companies to finish development and actually put their vehicle, called a lunar terrain vehicle, on the moon before NASA’S Artemis V mission.
NASA’S Artemis program is working to return astronauts to the moon and create a sustained human presence. Other companies could send a lunar terrain vehicle, or LTV, to the moon at a later date, but NASA plans to select just one company ahead of its Artemis V mission.
“The LTV is truly an exploration vehicle,” said Jacob Bleacher, NASA’S chief exploration scientist. “Where it will go, there are no roads. Its mobility will fundamentally change our view of the moon.”
Enhanced mobility will enable NASA to conduct more science on the moon. The vehicles will transport scientific equipment and allow astronauts to go farther from their habitat to collect rocks and other lunar samples. Astronauts will need to wear a spacesuit when driving the rover since it’s not pressurized.
Houston-based Intuitive Machines said it’s receiving $30 million for its feasibility study. It’s partnering with AVL, Boeing, Michelin and Northrop Grumman to develop the rover, which could be the company’s first entrance into human spaceflight operations.
“The South Pole region is rocky and craggy and shadowed,” said Intuitive Machines co-founder and CEO Steve Altemus. “It’s going to stress our suspension, our drivetrain, our power systems and our autonomous driving algorithms and software. And we’re going to need this globally integrated team to pull that off to allow this rover to live for 10 years and provide the service that NASA is asking for.”
Houston-based Axiom Space and Odyssey Space Research also are working on an LTV as part of Venturi Astrolab’s team.
The LTV contracts are the latest example of NASA partnering with commercial companies as it seeks to boost exploration and develop an economy in space. Commercial companies also are working with the agency to develop space stations, spacesuits and lunar landers. The companies own and operate the hardware, and NASA hopes to be one of many customers.
“We believe in the early phase, NASA is going to have to be somewhat of an anchor tenant (for the lunar terrain vehicle),” said Lara Kearney, manager of NASA’S Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program. “And then we hope that over the 10-year operating life of this vehicle we can start bringing in more and more and more commercial requests as the market evolves.”