Over 45 years ago the last American walked on the moon. Now Lockheed Martin and General Motors are collaborating to develop a lunar rover for further exploration of its’ surface. Artemis astronauts who are in NASA’s program to return humans to the Moon will be using a variety of rovers to conduct scientific experiments.
“This alliance brings together powerhouse innovation from both companies to make a transformative class of vehicles,” said Rick Ambrose, executive vice president, Lockheed Martin Space. “Surface mobility is critical to enable and sustain long-term exploration of the lunar surface.”
NASA reached out to various industries to gain insight on how best to develop a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) capable of exploring the moon’s surface farther than ever before. For that to happen NASA sought out those with a history of innovation and the capabilities to provide unparalleled engineering, performance, and technology in an LTV. Lockheed Martin and General Motors fit the bill.
The former, serving as the lead, has over a 50-year-history of working with NASA on deep-space human and robotic spacecraft. The company built spacecraft and systems that have gone to every planet, been on every NASA mission to Mars and had major roles on the space shuttle program and International Space Station power systems.
GM is a leader in battery-electric technologies and propulsion systems that are part of its electric vehicle strategy. The company will also use autonomous technology to facilitate safer and more efficient operations on the moon.
Such capabilities generate great excitement at NASA and in the space exploration industry because the astronauts’ exploration of the Moon’s surface is unprecedented and in places never seen before. Unlike the Apollo rovers that only traveled 4.7 miles from the landing site, these LTV’s will travel much further and in more challenging terrain. A trip to the Moon’s South Pole is being planned where there are extreme conditions—cold, dark and rugged terrain.
“General Motors made history by applying advanced technologies and engineering to support the Lunar Rover Vehicle that the Apollo 15 astronauts drove on the Moon,” said Alan Wexler, senior vice president of Innovation and Growth at General Motors. “Working together with Lockheed Martin and their deep-space exploration expertise, we plan to support American astronauts on the Moon once again.”
Read about NJIT Researcher Launches a Course on the Entrepreneurial Opportunities of Space Exploration
