prior to loading the LRV up. Equipment later loaded onto the LRV
included the ground controlled television assembly, the lunar communications
relay unit, the hi-gain antenna, the low-gain antenna, aft tool pallet, and
lunar tools and scientific gear.
Photo: NASA
One of the most iconic parts of the Apollo missions were videos and photos of astronauts driving around a lunar rover on the moon’s surface. Used for the final three Apollo missions — Apollo 15, 16, and 17 — the 462-pound rovers were built by Boeing and had a top speed of 6 MPH. They were used for mobility and transporting astronauts and equipment, and were also equipped with a color television camera that showed live views to audiences back on Earth of the astronauts driving on the lunar surface. The cameras also provided remote views of the liftoff of the Lunar Module’s ascent module, and provided the only views of humans lifting off of the surface of the moon as they began their return to Earth.
NASA is also planning to bring the same sort of mobility to Artemis astronauts when they are on the moon, and the results of a competition to select the vendor(s) for the new Lunar Terrain Vehicle will be announced today.
New LTV Competition
In 2020, NASA launched a competition for vendors to design and build the next-generation lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) to support crewed and uncrewed activities on the moon as part of Project Artemis. Several companies, including startups like Astrolab, Sierra Space and Intuitive Machines, as well as established companies like Leidos, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Nissan and Teledyne Brown, stated their plans to compete for the LTV contract.
Five proposals for a Lunar Terrain Vehicle have been publicly unveiled since NASA’s initial request.
- Lockheed Martin General Motors and MDA Ltd. have been their LTV proposal since 2021. Lockheed Martin and General Motors said they would integrate MDA’s commercial robotic arm technology. Goodyear announced in 2022 that they were joining the Lockheed Martin/General Motors/MDA effort and would develop tires for the LTV using its advanced airless tire technology.
- Also in 2021, Northrop Grumman teamed up with AVL, Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Michelin to design an LTV.
- In 2022, Teledyne Brown Engineering announced that it would lead a team, including Sierra Space and Nissan North America, to design an LTV. In 2022, Bridgestone joined the team and will provide tires for the proposed LTV.
- In 2023, Astrolab Inc. announced that they would join the competition and would base their effort on their FLEX (Flexible Logistics and Exploration) rover.
- In 2023, Leidos and the NASCAR racing organization announced that they were collaborating in speed, safety, and reliability technologies to develop a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) for NASA.
LTV Capabilities
Like the old Apollo moon rover, the new LTV will have cameras and sensors to perform data gathering, general mobility for activities like scouting activities and remote sample gathering, and overall serve as an add to astronauts on the lunar surface. The new rover will be have additional size, speed, and carrying capacity compared to the Apollo device, and will be able to cover more ground than any robotics explorer that has landed on the lunar surface in the past.
The LTV is currently planned to make its lunar debut starting with Artemis V no earlier than 2029, according to NASA.
Today’s Press Conference
At 4:00 PM EDT, NASA will announce its selection(s) from the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Participants in the press conference are
- Vanessa Wyche, director, NASA Johnson
- Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist, NASA Headquarters
- Lara Kearney, manager, Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program, NASA Johnson
Interested viewers can watch the event live on the NASA TV channel, or at NASA+ online.
