The contracts went to Venturi Astrolab, Intuitive Machines and Lunar Outpost. The vehicles are intended to help NASA explore the moon.
The moon is seen over the second round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, in New York.
The difference with these moon rovers, however, is that the vehicles will be operated by the companies in partnership with NASA, and the companies would be able to pursue commercial opportunities with them as NASA seeks to help build a lunar economy. The awards represent another down payment by NASA on its Artemis program, which the agency hopes will not only return astronauts to the lunar surface but will build a base there.
“As we found on Apollo, one to two kilometers is about as far as you want to walk in a suit on the lunar surface,” Steve Munday, NASA’s LTV program manager, said in an interview last year. “So you need something else. You need to extend that range, both for transportation and for science.” Venturi Astrolab, which is partnering with Axiom Space and Odyssey Space Research, announced last year that it had signed a contract with SpaceX to deliver its vehicle, the Flexible Logistics and Exploration Rover . It hopes to first land on the moon in 2026, said chief executive and founder Jaret Matthews.
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