tech
NASA taps 2 companies to develop buggies for its moon base program
Hawthorne, California — It was 1971 when America's love affair with the car went lunar. The Apollo Lunar Rover turned American moon-walkers into moon-drivers, allowing astronauts to explore more than 50 miles of lunar crust and craters.
TL;DR
- NASA is investing approximately $220 million each in Astrolab and Lunar Outpost to build moon rovers.
- The rovers are intended for a moon base planned for development near the lunar south pole over the next seven years.
- Astrolab's rover, FLEX, will be a four-wheel-drive electric vehicle capable of autonomous roving or carrying two astronauts and supplies.
- Lunar Outpost's rover is named Pegasus.
- These new rovers aim to be a combination of the Apollo Lunar Rover's capability to carry astronauts and modern rovers' remote operability.
- Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket, essential for delivering the rovers, recently experienced an explosion during testing.
- Lunar Outpost sees potential for commercial use of the moon beyond NASA's needs.