NASA Moves Lunar Rover Contract Awarding to 2024

NASA now expects to award at least one contract for the development of a lunar rover for the Artemis program on March 31, 2024, four months later than the original plan.

The rover called the Lunar Terrain Vehicle will be developed to land astronauts on the moon during future Artemis missions, starting with the program’s fifth flight.

NASA accepted proposals for the LTV until July 26. According to a NASA spokesperson, the change in the contract awarding date will provide more time for evaluating proposals, SpaceNews reported.

Industry officials, meanwhile, speculated that NASA will use the additional time to determine whether it can award more than one contract for the effort.  

Companies that announced their interest in competing for the contract include Astrolab, Intuitive Machines, Leidos, Lockheed Martin and Teledyne Brown. Leidos and Lockheed have partnered with Nascar and General Motors, respectively, to develop the LTV.

The space agency intends to procure a land rover-as-a-service offering, an approach designed to save money and allow the spacecraft to support other space exploration applications.