NASA conducted the first round of testing on three commercially developed lunar rovers, evaluating their functionality and suitability for the Artemis program.
Through NASA ’s Artemis campaign, astronauts will land on the lunar surface and use a new generation of spacesuits and rovers as they live, work, and conduct science in the Moon’s South Pole region, exploring more of the lunar surface than ever before. Recently, the agency completed the first round of testing on three commercially owned and developed LTVs (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) from Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab at NASA ’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
As part of an ongoing year-long feasibility study, each company delivered a static mockup of their vehicle to Johnson at the end of September, initiated rover testing in October and completed the first round of testing in December inside the Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) test facility. Lunar surface gravity is one-sixth of what we experience here on Earth, so to mimic this, ARGOS offers an analog environment that can offload pressurized suited subjects for various reduced gravity simulations. NASA astronauts Raja Chari (left) and Randy Bresnik (right) sit inside Lunar Outpost’s Eagle lunar terrain vehicle evaluating the seat configuration during testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.NASA astronaut Jessica Meir grabs a lunar geology tool from a tool rack on Lunar Outpost’s Eagle lunar terrain vehicle during testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.NASA astronaut Joe Acaba prepares to climb on top of Intuitive Machines’ Moon RACER lunar terrain vehicle to get to a science payload during testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.NASA astronaut Jessica Meir puts a science sample inside of a storage box on Intuitive Machines’ Moon RACER lunar terrain vehicle during testing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center
NASA Artemis Lunar Rovers Commercial Technology Space Exploration
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