General Motors and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin said Wednesday they will develop a vehicle capable of carrying astronauts and equipment longer distances across the moon.
The announcement comes as NASA lays groundwork to return humans to the lunar surface.
It is the companies’ response to a request NASA put out last year, which asked members of the automotive industry to pitch ideas for lunar terrain vehicles, known as LTVs, that could travel faster and farther on the moon than the ones used during the Apollo program.
The space agency is looking for mobility systems that can be deployed as part of Artemis, a U.S.-led international program that has a goal of landing astronauts on the lunar south pole by the mid-2020s.
“This alliance brings together powerhouse innovation from both companies to make a transformative class of vehicles,” said Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space, in a statement. “Surface mobility is critical to enable and sustain long-term exploration of the lunar surface.”
NASA wants any new rovers to extend the range astronauts have to conduct scientific experiments on the moon. The agency has also expressed interest in a variety of mobility systems — such as electric or autonomous lunar rovers that can recharge, self-navigate or handle extreme environments.
In its joint statement with Lockheed Martin, GM said it will incorporate autonomous technology into the LTVs.
No stranger to working with NASA, Lockheed Martin is already the prime contractor working on Orion, a class of reusable space capsules that are another key part of Artemis.
And GM — which aided in the development of the chassis and wheels for the lunar rovers used during Apollo 15 through 17 — indicated it is aiming to fulfill NASA’s request for next-generation LTVs to be able to travel longer distances.
Apollo rovers traveled less than five miles from their landing sites. But a wider range of mobility is needed for Artemis, NASA says, because astronauts will be traversing the moon’s south pole — a colder region with rugged terrain.