NASA Drops $4.6B to Kick Off the Most Ambitious Moon Rover Program Ever
Back to the Moon – This Time to Stay
From Golf Cart to Lunar Pickup Truck
A $4.6 Billion Paradigm Shift
The Three Teams Battling for the Moon
Intuitive Machines – Moon RACER
Lunar Outpost – Eagle
Venturi Astrolab – FLEX Rover
Surviving the South-Pole Hellscape
Lunar Dust Is Still the Enemy
Astronauts Already Driving Prototypes
Autonomy Is Mandatory
From Lunar Night Survival to Mars Prep
First Uncrewed LTV Lands ~2028
Building a Lunar Economy
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NASA is definitely going to try something entirely different after the Apollo astronauts folded up their small lunar ride and returned home fifty years later: large, strong, durable rovers that will enable astronauts to move up to one hundred kilometers over the lunar south pole, withstand two-week nights in the Arctic, and prepare the way for Mars. This time, the rovers won’t belong to NASA; private companies will own and operate them, while the agency simply buys rides, exactly the same revolutionary model that already sends astronauts to the ISS aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon. Here are the 14 main findings that illustrate how these future lunar trucks are being designed, tested, funded, and toughened.