NASA Picks 3 Companies to Help Astronauts Drive Around the Moon (nytimes.com) 23
NASA announced on Wednesday that they have selected three companies to develop preliminary designs for vehicles to take astronauts around the south polar region of the Moon. "After the astronauts return to Earth, these vehicles would be able to self-drive around as robotic explorers, similar to NASA's rovers on Mars," reports the New York Times. "The self-driving capability would also allow the vehicle to meet the next astronaut mission at a different location." From the report: The companies are Intuitive Machines of Houston, which in February successfully landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon; Lunar Outpost of Golden, Colo.; and Venturi Astrolab of Hawthorne, Calif. Only one of the three will actually build a vehicle for NASA and send it to the moon. NASA had asked for proposals of what it called the lunar terrain vehicle, or L.T.V., that could drive at speeds up to 9.3 miles per hour, travel a dozen miles on a single charge and allow astronauts to drive around for eight hours. The agency will work with the three companies for a year to further develop their designs. Then NASA will choose one of them for the demonstration phase. The L.T.V. will not be ready in time for the astronauts of Artemis III, the first landing in NASA's return-to-the-moon program, which is currently scheduled for 2026.
The plan is for the L.T.V. to be on the lunar surface ahead of Artemis V, the third astronaut landing that is expected in 2030, said Lara Kearney, manager of the extravehicular activity and human surface mobility program at the NASA Johnson Space Center. "If they can get there earlier, we'll take it earlier," Ms. Kearney said. The L.T.V. contract will be worth up to $4.6 billion over the next 15 years -- five years of development and then a decade of operations on the moon, most of it going to the winner of this competition. But Ms. Kearney said the contracts allow NASA to later finance the development of additional rovers, or allow other companies to compete in the future.
The plan is for the L.T.V. to be on the lunar surface ahead of Artemis V, the third astronaut landing that is expected in 2030, said Lara Kearney, manager of the extravehicular activity and human surface mobility program at the NASA Johnson Space Center. "If they can get there earlier, we'll take it earlier," Ms. Kearney said. The L.T.V. contract will be worth up to $4.6 billion over the next 15 years -- five years of development and then a decade of operations on the moon, most of it going to the winner of this competition. But Ms. Kearney said the contracts allow NASA to later finance the development of additional rovers, or allow other companies to compete in the future.
CyberTruck need not apply (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Musk is going to be so pissed-off that his penis-substitute isn't even being considered. But hey - given the reputation his "self-driving" software is building for itself, it's hardly surprising, is it.
The last thing you want to get is the red screen of death [yahoo.com] moments after you drive away.
Hans Kristian Graebener = StoneToss
Re: CyberTruck need not apply (Score:1)
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So?
Given the reputation he's rapidly building, he'll have to be production-lining training of astronauts, to keep the pipeline full of fresh meat to replace the ones that have just been killed at work. And he is going to be so butt-hurt that the laws about not killing your employees apply to him, that he'll have to offshore the company.
Musk's first "all-American Marsonau
Re: (Score:1)
Yes...clearly. Such angry, mind reading posts don't read well. Maybe he was just trying to be funny.
Re: CyberTruck need not apply (Score:2)
Before you interject (Score:2)
It's for American astronauts, so a bicycle is not an option, even with the reduced gravity.
Re: Before you interject (Score:1)
Re: Before you interject (Score:5, Informative)
Because it's 2024 and we have better materials and additional experience from Mars missions to do an even better job. Because this one isn't just a car for lunar astronauts, it's also to be an autonomous rover with a remote science package.
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NASA has only developed one manned lunar rover, and that was done in the late 1960s. After Apollo ended, no work was done on manned lunar missions until recently.
Some work may have been done on robotic lunar rovers, but nothing that got as far as a finished article being built.
Re: Before you interject (Score:2)
Recommended reading (Score:5, Informative)
'Across the airless wilds' by Earl Swift is an account of the design and development of the Apollo LRV. From the proposals made by various companies, to the eventual mission experience on Apollo 15-17 and the major difference it made to those missions.
The LRV story is closely related to the scientific field of terramechanics (i.e. how to move vehicles through rough terrain). M.G. Bekker was a pioneer in this field, doing studies for the Polish army in the 1920s and 1930s, before fleeing as the Nazis invaded. He ended up in Canada, then the US, working for the US military and writing what's still the standard textbook on the topic.
Drive around the moon (Score:2)
That would take a while, the circumference is 6786 miles.
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Seinfeld (Score:1)
Let's fly up tot he moon and drive around.
Interesting parallel (Score:2)
While the landers went nowhere after the N1 rocket failed four times, the rover design was modified and successfully landed on
Artemis is a tech demonstrator (Score:2)
Some things are almost comically convoluted (like the Lunar Gateway station) , and just landing something on the Moon can be achived way easier than Artemis is planning.
But the point of Artemis is to push many, many new technologies that we haven't had before. One exmple is how often HLS (SpaceX's Starship) will have to be refueled in orbit just to be