During the Apollo program, one of the most useful pieces of hardware was the Lunar Roving Vehicle. The Lunar Roving Vehicle allowed Apollo astronauts to study larger areas of the Moon. This led to more sites being studied and a larger variety of lunar rocks being collected. The LRVs were built by Boeing with assistance from General Motors.
In early 2020, NASA announced that they wanted companies to design unpressurized rovers similar to the LRV for their Artemis program. Since then, we haven't heard anything about the so called "Lunar Transport Vehicle".
Until today, when Lockheed Martin and General Motors jointly announced that they have already started developing their own lunar rover. They announced very few details about the rover, but we do know that it will be electric, partially autonomous, and be able to transport at least 2 astronauts. NASA will probably select a company to develop the Lunar Transport Vehicle in the next few months, it could be Lockheed Martin and GM, or a different company.
If all goes to plan, the first Lunar Transport Vehicle will land on the moon in 2025 alongside a crew of 2 astronauts. NASA is also teaming up with JAXA (the Japanese space agency) and Toyota to build a pressurized lunar rover with internal living space. A rover like this would not land until the late 2020s. All of this is a part of NASA's Artemis program, which will land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024, though that date is likely to slip to 2025 or 2026.
Comments