AMSTERDAM — NASA announced May 26 the first contracts associated with its plans to develop a lunar base, picking four companies to develop and deliver landers and drones to the moon.
At a NASA Headquarters briefing, the agency announced it selected lunar rover designs from Astrolab and Lunar Outpost for development. Those rovers will be sent to the moon on Blue Moon Mark 1 robotic landers by Blue Origin, with the goal of having either or both rovers on the moon before the Artemis 4 crewed lunar landing in 2028.
The landers are revised, simpler designs of concepts that Astrolab and Lunar Outpost proposed to NASA last year as part of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle, or LTV, program. At the Ignition event two months ago, NASA announced it was asking companies to submit revised designs that would be simpler and cheaper to operate and could be ready sooner.
The rovers are designed to be used by Artemis astronauts but also operate autonomously or be teleoperated when astronauts are not present. “We need them to be on the surface, doing things that basically prospect the surface,” said Carlos Garcia-Galan, program manager for Moon Base at NASA, including scouting potential landing sites and performing science. “They are a mix between the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle and a Mars-style rover.”
