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The US house company chosen Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolabe to create the design for the lunar rover.
NASA has awarded contracts to 3 corporations to develop autos for the primary crewed mission to the Moon in additional than 5 a long time.
NASA mentioned Wednesday that Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolabe, primarily based in Texas, Colorado and California, respectively, have been chosen to create designs for the lunar rover below a $4.6 billion contract.
NASA plans to decide on one of many corporations to check its Lunar Terrain Automobile forward of the arrival of crew for the Artemis 5 mission, scheduled for 2029.
The US house company mentioned the successful bid “will be capable of deal with the intense situations on the moon's south pole” and “will characteristic superior applied sciences for energy administration, autonomous driving and state-of-the-art communications and navigation programs.”
“We sit up for the event of the Artemis era lunar exploration automobile to assist advance what we be taught on the Moon,” Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson House Middle in Houston, mentioned in an announcement.
“This automobile will considerably improve the power of our astronauts to discover and conduct science on the lunar floor, whereas additionally serving as a science platform between crewed missions.”
Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for NASA's Exploration Methods Improvement Mission Directorate, mentioned the rover will enable astronauts “to journey to locations we in any other case couldn't attain on foot, enhancing our potential to make discoveries and make new scientific discoveries.” Will go.”
“With Artemis crewed missions, and through distant operations when there isn’t a crew on the floor, we’re enabling science and exploration on the Moon,” he mentioned.
The Artemis mission, named after Apollo's sister in Greek mythology, goals to return people to the Moon for the primary time since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Underneath this system, NASA plans to determine the primary long-term presence on the Moon and lay the groundwork for future missions to Mars.
Artemis 3, the primary crewed mission, is scheduled to land in 2026.