Designing the Moon Rover of the Future

Aerospace companies and carmakers are partnering to develop the next generation of moon rovers.

NASA’s Artemis missions are moving forward, with the aim of taking astronauts back to the moon. As part of this massive undertaking, NASA issued a call to the private sector to give those astronauts a set of wheels for exploring the moon.

Industry has responded with some innovative partnerships between aerospace companies and commercial vehicle manufacturers. The new vehicles being developed will be radically different than the original moon rovers that drove on the lunar surface as part of the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions. Those all-electric vehicles ran only for a few hours and had a very short range.

Image courtesy of NASA.

Image courtesy of NASA.

NASA’s Artemis missions intend to land astronauts on the south pole of the Moon as soon as 2025 for a week-long expedition—and the agency is relying on industry leaders to design a new rover.

Challenges in Designing a Vehicle for the Moon

Designing a vehicle for the lunar surface is no easy feat. The moon rotates more slowly than the Earth; each lunar day is 29.5 Earth days. This means that the rover will face a night that lasts three weeks in length with temperatures reaching –173 degrees Celsius. China’s Yutu rover, which landed on the moon in 2014, was unable to withstand the lunar night. During the lunar day, temperatures can soar as high as 127 degrees Celsius. In addition, since there’s no atmosphere to distribute the day’s heat, the rover could face freezing temperatures in shadowed regions even in the middle of the long day.

To survive in those conditions, a rover must be able to store energy and retain heat—without access to solar power—during the long lunar night. It will also need to be able to draw energy from an intense sun over a three-week-long day without overheating.

“Being able to survive that night is absolutely critical, or you’re just throwing up disposable rovers at that point,” said Derek Hodgins, strategy and business lead of Lockheed Martin’s lunar exploration arm.

It’s not just the temperature extremes—vehicles will also be bombarded with radiation. Without protection from the Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field, the rovers will have to deal with high-energy particles from the sun and cosmic rays that can wear down materials and damage sensitive electronic equipment. That means the rover will require radiation-hardened electronics and increased redundancies to compensate for component failures—which could increase its weight and complexity.

The moon’s low gravity is also a complication that can work both for and against the rover. A weak gravitational field could make it easier for an electric-powered vehicle to carry astronauts and cargo farther with the same amount of power. However, the rover’s center of gravity would be different than on Earth, requiring an adjusted suspension and calibration.

The Contenders

These challenges have resulted in some interesting partnerships between aerospace companies and vehicle manufacturers—who are bringing their separate sets of expertise together to design vehicles that can withstand the moon’s harsh conditions.

And while NASA hasn’t awarded any contracts yet, these technology leaders are already putting forward some promising concepts. Here are some of the most notable so far:

Lockheed Martin and GM

Image source: Lockheed Martin.

Image source: Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin and GM are developing a pod-shaped vehicle that can seat at least two astronauts, with ample room for cargo. It will be an electric vehicle—and will also be able to function with significant autonomy.

This autonomy would enable the rover to get into position at a landing site ahead of the astronauts’ arrival to facilitate mission completion and improve astronaut safety. The human crew could also direct the rover to perform operations remotely from the lunar Gateway. And an autonomous vehicle could expand the range of scientific payloads and experiments.

Lockheed Martin is bringing decades of aerospace experience working with NASA, while GM is leveraging its expertise in electric battery and propulsion system technologies. GM is also developing an autonomous technology that will facilitate the vehicle’s navigation.

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.

Northrop Grumman and Partners

Image source: Northrop Grumman.

Image source: Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman is leading a group of companies—AVL, Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Michelin—in developing another rover. 

As the prime proponent, Northrop Grumman will spearhead systems integration and vehicle design, including energy management, navigation, sensors, controls, cargo storage, avionics, and planning, operations and training.

AVL, a propulsion systems specialist, will design battery systems, autonomous driving and electric power solutions. Intuitive Machines is a space technologies and services provider that will lead vehicle launch and landing functions adapted from the company’s Nova-D spacecraft. Advanced technology company Lunar Outpost, which is already expecting to land an uncrewed rover on the lunar surface in 2022, will contribute dust mitigation and thermal technologies based on its MAPP rover. And Michelin is tasked with developing an airless tire, building on its previous work with NASA lunar rovers.

Northrop Grumman Lunar Rover Team’s proposed design. 

These aerospace-carmaker partnerships are not exclusively a U.S. phenomenon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has formed partnerships with both Toyota and Nissan to develop two different lunar driving projects.

JAXA and Toyota

Image courtesy of Toyota.

Image courtesy of Toyota.

The agency is working with Toyota to create a crewed rover with a pressurized passenger compartment that will be powered by fuel cell technologies.

Toyota claims that its Lunar Cruiser rover, with a name inspired by the company’s Land Cruiser, will have a range of more than 10,000 kilometers and will be powered by the same hydrogen fuel cell technology found in the existing Toyota Mirai.

Toyota’s Lunar Cruiser rover. 

Toyota recently unveiled a small prototype that features all-wheel steering and traction control, and automatic speed and vectoring control to assist in navigating the challenging lunar terrain. The finished rover will also feature a robotic arm designed by space robotics startup GITAI.

JAXA and Nissan

Image courtesy of Nissan.

Image courtesy of Nissan.

JAXA is also collaborating with Nissan to develop an uncrewed rover prototype that features front and rear electric motors to enhance navigation over difficult terrain. For this project, Nissan is adapting its e-4ORCE all-wheel control technology, which can currently be found on its commercially available Ariya electric crossover vehicle.

Nissan’s uncrewed rover. 

The e-4ORCE system would enhance the lunar rover’s ability to traverse difficult terrain. In particular, the system’s driving-force controls would minimize the amount of wheel spin based on the condition of the terrain.

Basing Rovers on Existing Vehicles

It’s notable how many of these projects are basing their technologies on existing consumer vehicles. There seems to be significant potential for designs that use the chassis of an existing consumer vehicle—albeit retrofit with adaptations needed to survive on the moon (and eventual missions to Mars).

If enough of the original components can be retained, the cost of converting an existing vehicle could be significantly lower than designing a new lunar rover from the ground up. The advent of electric vehicles (EVs) enhances that potential—remember that the original Apollo rover was electric. Beyond just their batteries, EVs could have features such as sealed and pressurized vehicle components that would be suitable for use in hostile low-temperature environments. In addition, commercial vehicles have already gone through extensive stress testing before hitting the market. In contrast, rovers are custom designed for extraterrestrial activity and would have undergone very limited testing beforehand.

A New Generation of Rovers for New Moon Missions

The Artemis project will not only return astronauts to the moon but will also greatly expand human activity on the lunar surface. Those missions will need longer-lasting, more powerful and more versatile rovers than the glorified dune buggies of the Apollo missions.

The lunar roving vehicle (LRV) used in the Apollo missions. Image courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum.

The lunar roving vehicle (LRV) used in the Apollo missions. Image courtesy of the National Air and Space Museum.

The new rovers will need to last a decade, according to NASA, and would need to support multiple one- and two-week missions—and perhaps even conduct missions autonomously. They would also serve as test vehicles for possible missions to Mars.
By working together to develop rover concepts, aerospace and automotive industry leaders are aiming to leverage their considerable experience and expertise to create the vehicles that will help advance human exploration of other worlds—using technologies you might find on the road today.