NASA concluded the first round of testing on three lunar terrain vehicles, or LTVs, from Venturi Astrolab, Intuitive Machines and Lunar Outpost for the Artemis program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The space agency said the three companies delivered static mockups of their LTVs to Johnson in September, enabling NASA’s engineering teams to initiate rover testing inside the Active Response Gravity Offload System, or ARGOS, test facility in October.
“We are excited to have mockups from all three LTV commercial providers here at Johnson Space Center,” said Steve Munday, LTV project manager at NASA. “This is the first major test milestone within the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract and to have actual rovers delivered only four months after these companies were awarded is remarkable.”
In April, NASA awarded the three companies positions on the potential $4.6 billion Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract in support of the agency’s Artemis moon exploration program.
Moon Rover Testing
NASA astronauts and engineers took turns wearing Axiom Space’s Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit lunar spacesuit and the agency’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit planetary prototype spacesuit to perform maneuvers, tasks and emergency drills on each rover: Astrolab’s FLEX, Lunar Outpost’s Eagle and Moon RACER from Intuitive Machines.
The tests provided crewmembers an opportunity to provide feedback on each vehicle’s design functionality, identify potential design issues and safety concerns and assess display interfaces and controls.
In 2025, NASA intends to release a request for proposals for task orders to any eligible commercial providers for a demonstration mission to continue building the vehicle, bring it to the lunar surface and validate its safety and performance ahead of Artemis V.
What Is NASA’s Artemis Campaign?
Through the Artemis campaign, the space agency will transport astronauts to the lunar surface to explore the moon for technology advancement and scientific discovery and establish the foundation for future manned missions to Mars.
