Upon their return to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis initiative, astronauts will be equipped with a human-rated unpressurized Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV), facilitating extensive exploration of the lunar surface and fostering a multitude of scientific discoveries.
As the crewed Artemis missions approach, engineers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston are meticulously crafting a prototype of an unpressurized rover, referred to as the Ground Test Unit. The test unit will utilize a versatile architecture to model and assess various rover concepts intended for deployment starting with Artemis V.
In April 2024, under the auspices of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract, NASA made the discerning choice to select three vendors — Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab — tasked with providing rover capabilities for utilization by astronauts on the lunar surface. Although the test unit will not journey to the Moon, it will facilitate the advancement of further rover prototypes, thereby allowing NASA and the three companies to persist in their progress until one of the providers becomes operational. Furthermore, the data derived from GTU testing plays a crucial role in guiding both NASA and commercial entities as they advance their rover designs. It functions as an engineering testbed for LTV providers, allowing them to evaluate their technologies in areas such as crew compartment design, rover maintenance, and payload science integration, among others.
“The Ground Test Unit will assist NASA teams in comprehensively examining and comprehending all facets of rover operations on the lunar surface in preparation for the Artemis missions,” stated Jeff Somers, the engineering lead for the Ground Test Unit. “The GTU enables NASA to engage in informed procurement, facilitating the testing and evaluation of rover operations in collaboration with the LTVS contractors and their equipment.”
The requirements set forth by the LTVS contractors are in harmony with the current capabilities of the GTU. Similar to the test unit, the vendor-developed LTV is expected to accommodate up to two crewmembers, possess remote operation capabilities, and implement various control concepts including drive modes, self-leveling, and supervised autonomy. The presence of a NASA prototype of the lunar vehicle on Earth facilitates extensive testing of its capabilities, while simultaneously providing various teams with invaluable hands-on engineering experience in the development of rover hardware.
NASA has developed advanced rover concept vehicles inspired by the achievements of the agency’s Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle from the 1970s, including this version of the GTU. The crewed test vehicles, such as the GTU, facilitate NASA’s exploration of innovative methodologies for ensuring that astronauts can inhabit and operate effectively and securely on the Moon, and eventually on the Martian surface. As vendor designs progress, the contracted LTV and the GTU facilitate testing prior to missions embarking on their journey to the Moon. The terrestrial vehicles enable NASA to mitigate certain risks associated with the adaptation of novel technologies or particular design elements of rovers.
The enhancement of human surface mobility significantly expands the exploration footprint on the lunar surface, thereby enabling each mission to undertake more comprehensive research and augment its contribution to the scientific community. NASA’s Artemis program aims to dispatch astronauts, notably the first woman and the first person of color, alongside an astronaut from an international partner, to the Moon. This initiative seeks to foster scientific discovery, advance technological innovation, yield economic advantages, and establish a groundwork for subsequent crewed missions to Mars.
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