What happens when you cross one of the largest arms companies in the world with one of the largest automakers in the world? Apparently you are getting an electrically powered autonomous lunar rover. At least that’s the result of a new collaboration between Lockheed Martin (LM) and General Motors (GM).
Mobility is one of the top priorities of the Artemis program, which aims to send people back to the moon and create a permanent human settlement there by the end of the decade. Last year they published an appeal asking for innovative approaches for rovers. LM and GM answered that call with an even more conceptual rover that is electric, can drive itself, and can travel further than the original moon buggies that hit the market with the Apollo missions in the 1970s.
Visualization of what the roving of the moon’s surface would look like with the new rovers.
Photo credit: General Motors YouTube Channel
That last metric isn’t hard to beat – the Apollo rovers could only travel 4 miles with a top speed of 8 miles per house. Improving these specifications should not pose a challenge to the combination of LM’s space exploration knowledge and GM’s mobility expertise. However, delivering services that engineers could not dream of 40 years ago would be a different challenge.
Two of the most interesting features of the proposed rover draw heavily on developments in the automotive industry over the past 10 years. Electrification and autonomy are key words in the mobility industry, which is slowly changing its name. Everyone would have advantages for lunar exploration missions.
Illustration of a lunar south pole base.
Photo credit: NASA
Electric drivetrains would allow rovers to either recharge with solar panels on board or quickly stop at a charging station at a landing pad or base to recharge before venturing on further exploration. Solar energy is relatively abundant on the moon, at least for the month when a hemisphere is facing the sun. How to charge the rovers and the rest of any permanent settlement for the months when their hemisphere is not facing the sun is a question that has yet to be answered.
Autonomy, while facing challenges of its own, is potentially the breakthrough technology. Only 5% of the lunar surface has been explored directly, and at least initially, astronauts won’t have much time to trample the surface and analyze rocks. However, autonomous rovers could potentially serve this role well by completing research and sample collection operations from a central hub without any input from the astronauts trying to build a sustainable base.
Representation of a theoretical rover climbing a hill near a lunar landing site.
Photo credit: NASA
Materials these rovers could find could prove to be key components of this base. However, there is also the risk that if an autonomous driving system fails, the astronauts will have to spend valuable time fetching the rover themselves. Surely LM and GM know how bad such a failure would look in the national spotlight of an early-stage lunar mission.
However, they may not even get a chance to prove their skills as the rover is still theoretical. While the company duo plan to use it for the Artemis program, a final selection has not yet been made. This seems like GM’s first foray into space exploration, but LM hasn’t been as successful as usual in showing off its programs to NASA as it was recently ousted by SpaceX to build the Artemis program’s lander.
Press conference to announce the cooperation between GM and LM.
Photo credit: Lockeheed Martin YouTube Channel
Certainly, GM and LM won’t be the only options available for such a rover program either. But if the concepts contained in their proposed system come to fruition, it would mean a huge leap in our ability to explore our closest neighbor.
Learn more:
LM – Lockheed Martin, General Motors Team for further moon research with autonomous moon rover
NBC – GM, Lockheed Martin develops next generation moon rover
Space.com – Lockheed Martin and GM Team Up to Build New Astronaut Moon Buggy
Verge – Lockheed Martin and GM work on an electric moon buggy
Mission statement:
Visualization of astronauts next to a new generation of moon rovers.
Photo credit: Lockheed Martin
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