Significant updates for human space exploration are coming from Intuitive Machines’ headquarters in Houston, TX. The Intuitive Machines-led Moon Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover (RACER) Team publicly presented the final design of its Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) to support NASA’s Artemis campaign.
On Sept. 27, 2024, the static mock-up of the first next-gen Lunar Terrain Vehicle was delivered to NASA’s Johnson Space Center for testing.
Just a month and a half later, on Thursday, Nov. 7, at Space Center Houston, Intuitive Machines unveiled its fully electric drivable LTV demo unit for a debut drive.
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Awards and project development
“Our global team is on a path to provide essential lunar infrastructure services to NASA” declared Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines, on April 3rd, 2024. On that date, Intuitive Machines was selected as one of three competitors – along with Lunar Outpost and Venturi AstroLab – to support NASA’s Artemis program.
The Agency awarded IM $3 million as the prime contractor to develop a Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services Feasibility Assessment in partnership with Northrop Grumman Corporation, Boeing, AVL, Michelin, Roush, and other subcontractor companies. Particularly, the Moon RACER Team was tasked with developing and deploying a Lunar Terrain Vehicle on the Moon using Intuitive Machines’ Nova-D cargo-class lunar lander.
After this first phase of the LTV development program, NASA will select one or more of the three teams to deliver their rover ahead of the Artemis program, which will send the first humans – including the first woman, the first person of color, and the first international partner astronaut – to explore a lunar near-South Pole region.
The successful, but not trouble-free, soft-landing of the Company’s Nova-C class lunar lander, Odysseus, on the Moon, marked the return of the US to the lunar surface for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. This milestone marks another step in the Company’s entrance into human spaceflight operations.
And even more important, as Altemus underlined, the project “would allow the Company to retain ownership of the vehicle for commercial utilization during periods of non-NASA activity over approximately ten years of lunar surface activity.” Thus, Intuitive Machines will ensure the long-term presence of its infrastructures on the Moon, both for NASA’s missions and commercial projects.
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LTV Design
Like a cross between an Apollo-style lunar rover and a Mars-style uncrewed rover, the LTV is 4.3-meter-long by 2.6-meter-tall by 3.7-meter-wide. It can also reach speeds up to 4.2 m/s, traverse slopes up to 20 degrees, and clear obstacles up to a foot high. The rover is designed to accommodate two astronauts, 400 kg of cargo, and to pull a trailer loaded with an additional 800 kg. It features an integrated robotic arm that will allow the LTV to collect samples of the lunar surface for scientific purposes.
With an increased ability to access previously unreachable sites, the rover was studied to face and handle the extremely harsh conditions at the Moon’s South Pole. The capabilities of the rover are meant to significantly increase the chances of getting new scientific returns.
To complete the multi-disciplinary expertise of the Team’s members, Northrop Grumman engaged Apollo moonwalkers Dr. Harrison (Jack) Schmidt and Charles Duke. Thanks to them, the team could take advantage of their invaluable experience by improving and optimizing the design of the LTV in line with the needs of Artemis astronauts. Specifically, their suggestions focused on designing an ergonomic seat belt, functional paddle controls, and enabling the rover to be driven from either the driver’s or passenger’s side.
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Mission
The Moon RACER’s LTV development enhances human and robotic exploration of the lunar surface to enable a sustainable and stable human presence on the Moon and, later, Mars. Moon RACER Team’s objective is to provide an affordable LTV with advanced power management, autonomous driving, communications, and navigation systems. The vehicle should accommodate astronauts as part of the future NASA’s Artemis V mission, which is scheduled to be launched not before the first quarter of 2030.
“This vehicle will greatly increase our astronauts’ ability to explore and conduct science on the lunar surface while also serving as a science platform between crewed missions,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Between Artemis missions, indeed, the rover will be controlled remotely to transport cargo and science payloads supporting either NASA or commercial scientific objectives.
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