General Motors isn’t the biggest automaker on Earth anymore, but it hopes to achieve 100 percent market share on the moon.
GM and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin are developing a vehicle capable of carrying astronauts and equipment longer distances across 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.
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.
GM aided in the development of the chassis and wheels for the lunar rovers used during the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions.
Apollo rovers traveled less than five miles from their landing sites, but a wider range of mobility is needed for the Artemis program, NASA says, because astronauts will be traversing a colder region of the moon that has more rugged terrain.