What is "Moon Racer"
In April of this year, NASA announced that it had selected three companies to participate in a program to create a lunar rover, as part of which they will develop an unpressurized rover for moving astronauts on the Moon. NASA intends to use these rovers for surface operations starting with the Artemis V mission, scheduled for 2029. The rover that will be used will be chosen from these three companies and is expected to arrive on the Moon about five years before the start of the Artemis V mission. The three selected companies are Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab. These three projects will receive funding to continue the vehicle development stage, after which NASA will select one team for funding a demonstration mission to the Moon.
The space agency required that such a device be able to operate on the lunar surface for 10 years and that the company responsible for developing the rover be responsible not only for its operation but also for its transportation to the lunar surface. At the same time, NASA guarantees that when the rover is not being used for the Artemis program or scientific missions, it can be provided as a commercial service to other customers. One of NASA's most important requirements is also the ability to control the device from Earth, so that it can carry out research and scientific missions even without the presence of astronauts.
Moon RACER
The company Intuitive Machines is leading a project called Moon RACER (Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover), which involves companies Boeing and Northrop Grumman from the aerospace sector, as well as AVL and Michelin from the automotive sector. This rover will be delivered to the Moon using the Nova-D landing craft, which Intuitive Machines is building as an evolution of the Nova-C landing craft that has already arrived on the Moon in February 2024.
Lunar Outpost
Lunar Outpost is a startup company specializing in the production of small lunar rovers. It is currently working on four different small robotic lunar rovers, the first of which will be delivered to the Moon by the end of 2024. The lunar rover project, called Lunar Dawn, includes Lockheed Martin, MDA Space, General Motors, and Goodyear. The first two companies will provide aerospace expertise, General Motors will provide batteries, and Goodyear will provide tires.
FLEX
Venturi Astrolab, in turn, presented a version of its lunar rover FLEX, which is already scheduled to land on the Moon in 2026 as part of the Starship cargo mission. Thus, the company is among the top three most advanced in the development of such types of vehicles, since this project was already in the company's plans. FLEX is a modular rover designed for both transporting astronauts and working as a vehicle. Venturi Astrolab will work on the VLT contract with Axiom Space and Odyssey Space Research.
For reference, Michelin was the sole supplier of tires to NASA for space shuttles from 1981 to 2011, and Michelin may well equip the future lunar module Moon Racer, which will go to the Moon. As part of its program, NASA has released a shortlist of companies that are still competing to develop the future spacecraft.
It is expected that among the three teams still working, Venturi Astrolab, Lunar Outpost, and finally Intuitive Machines, which will use airless tires. The technological challenge that the world's number one tire manufacturer has been preparing for three years, because driving on the Moon is a task that is far from easy. Additionally, one of the contenders is equipped with a competitor's tires - Goodyear.