Topline
NASA has picked three companies—including Intuitive Machines, co-founded by billionaire Kam Ghaffarian—to work on developing a rover to help astronauts better explore the moon, agency leaders announced Wednesday, as the agency prepares to return humans to the moon for the first time in decades.
Key Facts
Only one company will be awarded a contract to actually build the Lunar Terrain Vehicle and send it to the moon, but three three companies—Intuitive, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab—will enter into milestone-based contracts with competitive task orders to ensure NASA maintains “robust competition” and “get(s) the best value for the government,” said Lara Kearney, NASA’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program manager.
Intuitive Machines said in a press release it was awarded $30 million for a Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services Feasibility Assessment, but neither Lunar Outpost or Venturi Astrolab immediately shared how much their contracts were worth—though Venturi said its total contract could be worth up to $1.9 billion.
The new rover will be designed to help astronauts from NASA’s Artemis program explore more of the Moon and “search for water, ice and other resources on the lunar surface,” NASA said, and will help “humanity establish a long-term presence on another planetary body for the first time.”
The new vehicle would be part of the Artemis missions, which aim to land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon.
Big Number
$4.6 billion. That’s the maximum potential value of the combined contracts, NASA said.
Surprising Fact
The proposed vehicle should be able to last 10 years on the Moon and has to be able to carry two astronauts, accommodate a robotic arm and survive extreme temperatures in the lunar South Pole, which regularly has extremely cold temperatures and permanently shadowed areas.
What To Watch For
NASA previously said it hopes to use the moon rover for crewed operations starting with the launch of Artemis V, which is expected in 2029.
Forbes Valuation
Forbes estimates Ghaffarian to have a net worth of around $2.3 billion, making him the 1,438th wealthiest person in the world Wednesday afternoon.
Tangent
Intuitive Machines recently became the first company to land a privately operated spacecraft intact on the moon. The spacecraft carried several NASA experiments and commercial payloads, part of a NASA program to deliver cargo to the moon.NASA has previously awarded contracts to space companies owned by billionaires, part of a broader effort to boost the commercial space industry. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin was awarded a contract of more than $3 billion to develop a lunar lander for Artemis V, and two years earlier Elon Musk’s SpaceX was awarded a $2.9 billion contract to build spacecraft for the Artemis program.
Key Background
NASA began accepting proposals for the moon rover last May, saying it wanted a vehicle that would “allow astronauts to go farther and conduct more science than ever before” while exploring the south polar region of the Moon. The rover should work as a cross between an Apollo-era lunar rover and a Mars-style rover, NASA said, and will need to be able to work both with and without a crew. Intuitive Machines is working with Boeing, Michelin, Northrop Grumman and more on its rover, according to its press release. Lunar Outpost—whose team for the rover includes Locheed Martin and General Motors—has also been awarded at least one NASA contract in the past. Venturi Astrolab is working with Axiom Space, Inc. and Odyssey Space Research on its rover, according to its release.
