{"id":10146,"date":"2024-04-04T18:47:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T10:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-unveils-three-teams-to-compete-for-crewed-lunar-rover-demonstration-mission\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T18:47:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T10:47:49","slug":"nasa-unveils-three-teams-to-compete-for-crewed-lunar-rover-demonstration-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-unveils-three-teams-to-compete-for-crewed-lunar-rover-demonstration-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA unveils three teams to compete for crewed lunar rover demonstration mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_65831\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65831\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-65831\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_LTV_finalists_small.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_LTV_finalists_small.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_LTV_finalists_small-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_LTV_finalists_small-678x381.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_LTV_finalists_small-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-65831\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA awarded contracts for three companies and their teams to move into the feasibility phase of developing options for a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV). Renderings: Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, Astrolab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NASA selected three companies to move forward with developing crewed, unpressurized rovers capable of operating on the Moon\u2019s South Pole on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Intuitive Machine\u2019s Moon RACER (Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover), Lunar Outpost\u2019s Lunar Dawn and Venturi Astrolab\u2019s FLEX (Flexible Logistics and Exploration) rovers were selected by NASA as part of its Lunar Terrain Vehicle Service (LTVS) contract. The maximum potential value of the indefinite-delivery\/indefinite-quantity, milestone-based contract is $4.6 billion, according to NASA.<\/p>\n<p>Those three principles are each leading multi-company teams in this competition:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Moon RACER \u2013 Intuitive Machines, AVL, Boeing, Michelin and Northrop Grumman<\/li>\n<li>Lunar Dawn \u2013 Lunar Outpost, Lockheed Martin, General Motors, Goodyear and MDA Space<\/li>\n<li>FLEX \u2013 Venturi Astrolab, Axiom Space and Odyssey Space Research<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cScience is our toolbox for learning and enhanced mobility is one of the most important tools in that science toolbox,\u201d said Jacob Bleacher, NASA\u2019s Chief Exploration Scientist, during the announcement at the Johnson Space Center on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe diversity of Apollo samples increased when the Lunar Roving Vehicle enabled exploration of more surface area per-mission. That diversity of lunar knowledge is what we seek now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Lara Kearney, the manager of the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program at JSC said the contractors are being tasked with designing roving vehicle capability that would span 10 years. She said while there are certain high-level requirements placed on the providers chosen, they also have quite a bit of flexibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have asked the companies to meet a 10-year operating life. We did not define how they needed to do that,\u201d Kearney said. \u201cThey could, for instance, come in and say, \u2018I\u2019m going to deliver one rover. It\u2019s going to last 10 years\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m going to deliver 10 rovers that last only one year.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: static; visibility: visible; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1775616356303454296&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2024%2F04%2F04%2Fnasa-unveils-three-teams-to-compete-for-crewed-lunar-rover-demonstration-mission%2F&amp;sessionId=75a84ddde25cd131ec51c952abdeb90f1837b2d2&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1775616356303454296\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782461641597471317=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Congratulations to @Int_Machines, @LunarOutpostInc, and @Astrolab_Space for being selected to move forward in developing the #Artemis lunar terrain vehicle!<\/p>\n<p>This Moon rover will allow future astronauts to travel far on the lunar surface: https:\/\/t.co\/mzOd4Yz5XC pic.twitter.com\/eB1QMq0PoO<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NASA (@NASA) April 3, 2024<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The three companies will each receive a task order for the so-called \u201cfeasibility phase\u201d of the LTVS program. It will last about 12 months culminating in a preliminary design review. That year-long period will allow NASA to work with them to \u201cunderstand what their designs look like, iterating with them on where we can make improvements and understanding how they incorporate into our overall plan or architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce we get past that point, we will have a follow-on subsequent competitive request for proposal go out. They will then compete for what we call a \u2018demonstration task order,\u201d Kearney said. \u201cThat demonstration allow them to finish the development, get the LTV to the Moon and demonstrate it on the surface prior to the arrival of the Artemis 5 crew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kearney said they will likely only be able to award the demonstration task order to one company. It will be followed by service task orders on an annual cadence to provided both crewed and uncrewed services throughout the remaining duration of the contract.<\/p>\n<p>She said while NASA will be the primary customer via the Artemis program, about 25 percent of the rover\u2019s usage will come from commercial customers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what\u2019s really important also is to applaud NASA for this non-traditional, forward-thinking procurement,\u201d said Steve Altemus, the CEO of Intuitive Machines. \u201cIt really is exciting that not only are we going to support the Artemis campaign, with crewed and uncrewed missions, but also it\u2019s commercially available for us as a commercial business to sell capacity on that rover and do that for international partners and for other commercial companies and space agencies around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_65832\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65832\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-65832\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Moon_RACER_LTV_small.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Moon_RACER_LTV_small.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Moon_RACER_LTV_small-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Moon_RACER_LTV_small-678x381.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Moon_RACER_LTV_small-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-65832\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of Intuitive Machines\u2019 Moon RACER rover, which is being developed in partnership with AVL, Boeing, Michelin and Northrop Grumman. Graphic: Intuitive Machines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>Challenges to cruising the Moon<\/h4>\n<p>As is the case with any mission on the Moon, the proposition of bringing a rover that can drive with or without humans is a tall task. Beyond the three companies chosen, rovers like the ones developed by the Teledyne Brown-led team (which included Nissan North America, Sierra Space, Textron and Bridgestone Corporation) and a partnership between Lidos and NASACAR didn\u2019t make the cut.<\/p>\n<p>One of the challenges faced by the teams selected for this next phase is that their vehicles will need to be operable not only when an astronaut is at the controls in person, but also remotely from Earth, in between the crewed Artemis missions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne requirement from NASA is we can\u2019t have more than 10-meter error on the lunar surface at any given time. This is without any infrastructure in place,\u201d said Justin Cyrus, the CEO of Lunar Outpost. \u201cWe don\u2019t have GPS satellites around the Moon, we don\u2019t have communication infrastructure and we have to understand our environment and understand our vehicle dynamics to a point that we know exactly where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_65833\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65833\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-65833\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Lunar-Dawn_LTV.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Lunar-Dawn_LTV.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Lunar-Dawn_LTV-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Lunar-Dawn_LTV-678x381.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Lunar-Dawn_LTV-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-65833\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lunar Dawn\u2019s concept illustration of a NASA Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) rover for the Artemis program. Graphic: Lunar Outpost<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another challenge will be in establishing a power collection and storage system that can not only provide enough service for the vehicle to operate for 10 years, but also one that can survive the harshness of lunar nighttime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a number of the subsystems that we\u2019ve put in as the initial design that will be traded over that 12-month period. That will give us a better understanding of things like survive the night, operate during the night, how effective solar arrays are versus fuel cells, what the drivetrain needs to look like, what the battery life extensions are, what the suspension needs to be,\u201d Altemus said. \u201cAnd tires in particular, we brought Michelin on board, who\u2019s done extensive work on lunar tires with the Glenn Research Center. And so, that research has been going on for years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The three representatives of the winning companies didn\u2019t go into great detail about their designs or specific numbers when it came to capability, citing the ongoing competition for the demonstration portion of the contract. Some of the NASA requirements, highlighted by Astrolab founder and CEO Jaret Matthews, include being able to travel at least 15 km\/hr, traverse 20 km on a charge and support an eight-hour spacewalk mission.<\/p>\n<p>Astrolab said in a statement that its contract is worth up to $1.9 billion and Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR, LUNRW) said it received $30 million as a prime contractor. Lunar Outpost didn\u2019t disclose the value of its contract in its press release.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_65834\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65834\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-65834\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_FLEX_LTV_small.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_FLEX_LTV_small.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_FLEX_LTV_small-300x120.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_FLEX_LTV_small-678x271.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_FLEX_LTV_small-768x307.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-65834\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of Astrolab\u2019s FLEX rover on the surface of the Moon beside a SpaceX Starship rocket. Graphic: Astrolab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Matthews said his company built \u201ca full-scale, fully-functional terrestrial prototype over two years ago and have been doing thousands of hours of testing in the field with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe frequently take it out to the Death Valley area of California and that has allowed us to stress the hardware and actually try out our tire prototypes in the real world environment as well as in our environmental chambers that we have at our company,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cOur tire technology has already been in thermal vacuum chambers. It\u2019s currently on an endurance test rig at NASA Glenn.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>More rovers to come<\/h4>\n<p>While these three companies and their industry partners are working on these rovers, those aren\u2019t the only ones being developed for use during the Artemis program.<\/p>\n<p>Kearney said the LTV will be unpressurized vehicles, but they are also working to add pressurized rovers as an additional capability, such as the Lunar Cruiser developed by Toyota.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe idea is that they work together as a part of a lunar system to support the crew,\u201d Kearney said. \u201cWhere the LTV is unpressurized, it will likely be more limited in its range. A pressurized rover, when it comes along with the life support, we\u2019ll be able to extend the cruise range even farther away from a lander.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She teased that an announcement concerning the pressurized vehicles is coming \u201cabout a week from now.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_65835\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-65835\" style=\"width: 876px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-65835\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Toyota_Lunar_Cruiser.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"876\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Toyota_Lunar_Cruiser.jpg 876w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Toyota_Lunar_Cruiser-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Toyota_Lunar_Cruiser-678x381.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/20240403_Toyota_Lunar_Cruiser-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 876px) 100vw, 876px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-65835\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A rendering of Toyota\u2019s Lunar Cruiser, a pressurized rover that is being considered for future operation on the Moon\u2019s surface. Graphic: Toyota<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA awarded contracts for three companies and their teams to move into the feasibility phase of developing options for a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV). Renderings: Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, Astrolab NASA selected three companies to move forward with developing crewed, unpressurized rovers capable of operating on the Moon\u2019s South Pole on Wednesday. Intuitive Machine\u2019s Moon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1419,503,1420,734,1421,625,1422,190],"class_list":["post-10146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-flex","tag-intuitive-machines","tag-lunar-dawn","tag-lunar-outpost","tag-lunar-terrain-vehicle-service","tag-moon","tag-moon-racer","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}