Race to Drive on the Moon: Inside the Battle for NASA’s Artemis Lunar Rover Contract
The New Moon Buggy Race for Artemis Three competing lunar rover prototypes on display at NASA’s Johnson Space Center: (L–R) Venturi Astrolab’s FLEX rover, Intuitive Machines’ Moon RACER, and Lunar Outpost’s Eagle LTV. NASA is once again in the market for a Moon rover – and this time it’s turning to private industry. Under the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and eventually send crewed missions to Mars, NASA issued a call for next-generation lunar vehicles that astronauts can drive on the Moon’s surface. The agency’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) will be an unpressurized, “open-top” rover akin