NASA, Space Companies Collaborate on Developing Lunar Vehicle for Artemis Missions

NASA will work with several companies to develop advanced capabilities for a lunar terrain vehicle for the Artemis mission.

The LTV will feature advanced technologies for autonomous driving, power management and state-of-the-art communications and navigation systems. It is also capable of operating in extreme conditions experienced in the moon’s south pole.

Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab are among the contractors that secured firm-fixed-price task orders that have a combined maximum potential value of $4.6 billion from the U.S. space agency, NASA .gov reported.

Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, said the LTV will be used to travel to locations teams are otherwise unable to reach on foot.

NASA’s Artemis campaign is a collaboration between commercial and international partners to carry out scientific exploration and technology demonstrations on the moon.

Aside from the aforementioned contractors, Axiom Space is also working with the space agency to develop a next-generation lunar spacesuit suitable for moonwalks and picking up lunar samples.