Friday / 7 November 2025

3 Lunar Rovers: Alike Yet Different

NASA-specified Lunar Terrain Vehicle selection NET end-of-2025 for awards from total US$4.6B available; requirements include: minimum ~1250km yearly / ~19km daily operation while hauling ~800kg, robotic construction arm with interchangeable tools, remote / autonomous / driver operation, LIDAR / camera “vision”, NASA-developed electrodynamic dust shielding, micrometeorite shielding, several years’ life through temperatures +121° to -246°C; Lunar Outpost Eagle has joystick steering for seated Astronauts, 25kph top speed, Goodyear metal-mesh tires; Astrolab FLEX has joystick for standing operators driving front- or rear-forward, Venturi wheels of heated silicone / glass / steel, horseshoe chassis, system redundancy; Intuitive Machines Moon Racer has seated-joystick operation with handrail / winch entry, Michelin tires tested to -195°C, trailer-hauling system

Image Credits: NASA – Dave Scott on Apollo 15, (CW) Lunar Outpost, Intuitive Machines, Astrolab

Friday / 11 April 2025

NASA Expected to Choose 1 of 3 Lunar Terrain Vehicles (LTVs) This Year, Award US$4.6B

3 companies were tasked with building a Moon rover to support Artemis; Lunar Outpost Eagle seats 2 Astronauts in front, each wheel turns independently, screens show what several cameras see, there are tool and sample containers, it can be operated remotely; Astrolab / Venturi / Axiom LTV has 2 Astronauts standing at rear, storage containers for lunar samples; Intuitive Machines RACER holds 2 Astronauts, carries 400kg of cargo plus trailer with 800kg, offers remote control, engineered with 9 companies and input from Moonwalkers Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt

Credits: Space.com/Future/Brett Tingley, Astrolab, Intuitive Machines 

Friday / 7 March 2025

Lunar Outpost Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) Now on Moon

Competing for NASA award to provide Artemis III rover, Lunar Outpost sent its MAPP to Moon and is currently awaiting orientation data from Intuitive Machines Athena IM-2 Lander to confirm whether the 45x38x40cm, 15kg MAPP becomes the 1st American rover to operate on the Moon; other firsts expected are lunar economy / commercialization via image of collected regolith sold to NASA for nominal amount US$1 and cellular network via Nokia (Finland) payload; other payloads from MIT (camera, tiny robots), Castrol (robot lubricant), and sports-oriented consortium (Italy and Germany); Lunar Outpost has offices in Colorado, Luxembourg, Australia

Credits: Lunar Outpost, NASA