Comparing the Artemis moon buggy contenders

NASA expected to make a selection later this year

SPACE SYMPOSIUM, Colorado Springs — Among the hardware on display here this week were full-size driveable prototypes of two commercial lunar rovers and a full-size mockup of a third that are vying to be the successor to the beloved Apollo buggies.

NASA last year chose three multi-company teams for 12-month Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services feasibility studies, in which the providers built and tested prototypes of their two-seat buggies. Like many of the components for the Artemis moon program, the agency doesn’t want to buy any of the vehicles, but instead intends to effectively rent one for Artemis crewed missions, starting with the third landing: Artemis V, currently scheduled for 2030. In separate press releases, the buggy designers said they expect that down selection to occur sometime this year, though NASA didn’t respond when I reached out to confirm that timeline. Including the funds already awarded for the feasibility studies, NASA says the maximum value of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract will be up to $4.6 billion over 15 years.

While the contenders were undoubtedly inspired by the three Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicles that went to the moon half a century ago, NASA’s request for proposals calls for the next-generation LTVs to be more than just a repeat. In particular, NASA wants these unpressurized vehicles to “telerobotically perform science, exploration, and logistics” activities in the absence of astronauts. Another requirement is that all the LTVs include a robotic arm.

In another notable departure from the Apollo buggies, each of which served a single mission, NASA means for the LTV to last at least 10 years roving the fine, sharp particles that make up the moon’s regolith, or dirt.

Here are the three designs under consideration:

Astrolab

Short for Flexible Logistics and Exploration, the utilitarian-looking FLEX is a collaboration between Los Angeles-based Venturi Astrolab and European electrical vehicle maker Venturi, with participation from Axiom Space and Odyssey Space Research. While the eye is first drawn to the the massive solar panels that dominate one side of the open chassis of the mockup on display here, the most distinct feature might be the “hyper-deformable” wheels designed by Venturi. Held up by a series of crisscrossing cables, the top halves of the wheels would support the rover’s weight, allowing the bottoms of the wheels to deform, or squish, where they touch the ground to traverse obstacles.

FLEX is designed to carry up to 1,600 kilograms in cargo, about three times the 490-kg capacity of the Apollo buggies. And no matter what NASA decides, at least one of these buggies will rove on the moon. Astrolab in 2023 announced that a FLEX will fly to the lunar south pole as soon as 2026 aboard an uncrewed Starship lander, a demonstration flight that NASA is requiring SpaceX to complete before entrusting Starship to ferry astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface for the Artemis III mission.

Intuitive Machines

Of the three designs, Intuitive Machines’ Moon RACER (short for Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover) might be the most visually reminiscent of the Apollo buggies, with its wide-set, low-slung chassis and similar cargo capacity of 400 kg. If astronauts wish to ferry additional cargo, an optional trailer can be hooked up to the buggy that increases the cargo capacity to 1,200 kg. Atlas Devices, AVL, Barrios, Boeing, Australia’s space agency CSIRO, Fugro, Michelin, Northrop Grumman and Roush round out the team.

Another driving force for the design was the desire for Moon RACER to fit into Intuitive’s suite of lunar hardware. For launch, the buggy and trailer were designed to be packaged aboard Nova-D, the heavy cargo lander that Intuitive is developing, with the buggy rolling off the lander once it reaches the lunar surface.

Nova-D is a larger variant of the two Nova-C landers that Intuitive landed on the moon in March and in February 2024, though both of those landers ended up on their sides.

Lunar Outpost

Colorado-based Lunar Outpost chose a familiar name for its buggy: Eagle. And in another nod to history, the team includes companies with previous experience building moon buggies. General Motors helped develop the chassis and wheels of the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicles, and Goodyear made their wire mesh tires. Leidos and MDA Space are also participants, with MDA Space providing the buggy’s robotic arm that could help move supplies around in the buggy’s cargo bed, among other tasks. Lunar Outpost declined to share Eagle’s cargo capacity with me, citing the ongoing competition.

This Eagle on display is the fourth prototype — and the second full-size, fully functioning one — that the company has built in the past year, co-founder and chief strategy officer Forrest Meyen told me. The buggy has a mostly metallic finish, with lights beaming out from every angle to enhance visibility for the astronaut drivers and the on-board instruments — its “Eagle Eyes” — that would help navigate when the buggy is in autonomous mode.

Lunar Outpost already has a smaller rover on the moon, but that one never drove. The company’s Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform, or MAPP, was one of the payloads aboard the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander that touched down last month, but MAPP couldn’t travel out to the surface. Nova-C landed on its side in a crater, wedging the rover’s garage compartment underneath.

Opener caption: Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan drives the Lunar Roving Vehicle during his 1972 surface mission. Credit: NASA