General Motors to develop next-gen Lunar Rover for NASA
GM's next electric autonomous vehicle will be out of this world!General Motors are teaming up with spacecraft experts Lockheed Martin to develop the next generation of lunar vehicles to transport astronauts on the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
NASA has put the challenge out to the tech and mobility industry to develop a new Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) that will allow astronauts to explore the surface of the moon in greater depth than ever before. The LTV is the first of many types of surface mobility vehicles needed for the Artemis program.
To support NASA’s mission, GM and Lockheed Martin are joining forces to develop a unique vehicle with innovative capabilities that will allow astronauts to explore the lunar surface in an unprecedented way and support discovery in places where humans have never gone before.
Lockheed Martin brings over 50-years of experience and capabilities in deep-space exploration to the table. It has built spacecraft and systems that have gone to every planet, been on every NASA mission to Mars including building 11 of the Mars spacecraft, and played major roles on the space shuttle program and International Space Station power systems.
While GM is said to be using its new battery-electric technologies and propulsion systems as part of its electric vehicle strategy as a foundation to this project. GM’s autonomous technology will also play a part to create safer and more efficient movement on the Moon.
“General Motors made history by applying advanced technologies and engineering to support the Lunar Rover Vehicle that the Apollo 15 astronauts drove on the Moon,” said Alan Wexler, senior vice president of Innovation and Growth at General Motors. “Working together with Lockheed Martin and their deep-space exploration expertise, we plan to support American astronauts on the Moon once again.”
This isn’t the first time GM has taken to space. The company manufactured, tested and integrated the inertial guidance and navigation systems for the entire Apollo Moon program, including Apollo 11 and the first human landing in 1969. GM also helped develop the electric Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), including the chassis and wheels for the LRV that was used on Apollo’s 15-17 missions.
Unlike the Apollo rovers that only travelled 7.6 kilometres from the landing site, the next generation of lunar vehicles is being designed to explore significantly further distances as part of the first excursions to the Moon’s south pole, where it is cold, dark with more rugged terrain.
Autonomous, self-driving systems will allow the rovers to prepare for human landings, provide commercial payload services, and enhance the range and utility of scientific payloads and experiments.
Future GM cars could have a lot more in common with the new generation of space exploration vehicles than we could have ever known.
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