GoKawiilNASA officials announced contract awards for the initial elements of a lunar base on Tuesday, including two rovers that will provide mobility to astronauts.
With the series of announcements, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman sought to maintain momentum around a Moon Base initiative revealed two months ago as part of the space agency’s return to the Moon. “For those waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand, and we will not slow down,” he said.
The manager for the lunar base, Carlos Garcia-Galan, said the space agency had selected two companies, Astrolab and Lunar Outpost, to build approximately one-ton rovers that would be ready for delivery to the Moon in 2028. Astrolab will receive $219 million for its “CLV-1” rover, and Lunar Outpost $220 million for its “Pegasus” rover, building upon initial contracts awarded two years ago. Each rover is expected to have a range of 200 km and be capable of driving autonomously, with guidance from operators on Earth, in addition to being driven by astronauts.
Garcia-Galan also announced that Blue Origin, with its Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, would deliver each of the rovers separately to the lunar surface. These two delivery contract awards were worth $280.4 million.
The awards increase Blue Origin’s centrality to NASA’s Moon plans, both by flying large amounts of cargo, with a Mark 1 lander previously contracted to deliver the Viper vehicle to the lunar surface, and by supporting the company’s larger Mark 2 lander for eventual human missions.
Need to learn more about the lunar surface
One theme of Tuesday’s news conference was the reality that, decades after humanity’s first visits to the Moon, there remains much we do not know about conditions on the lunar surface.