Unlike the Apollo missions' rovers, it will also have to operate autonomously for outings without an astronaut. The solar arrays will be fixed to vehicles that can run them out to different locations.įor its scientific expeditions, NASA has tasked industry with developing an unpressurized - that is to say, open top - rover for two people, ready by 2028. They need to be placed vertically because at the Moon's south pole - the intended destination because it has water in the form of ice - the Sun barely peeps above the horizon.Ībout 60 feet (18 meters) high, the Astrobotic panels will be connected by cables running several miles (kilometers), said Mike Provenzano, the company's director of lunar surface systems. Landon estimates the value of the lunar market will be '$100 billion over the next 10 years.'Īstrobotic, with 220 employees, is one of three companies selected by NASA to develop solar panels. This would relieve the strain on NASA's Deep Space Network, which threatens to overheat in the face of all the upcoming missions, including private ones. Starting out with a pair of satellites, the company wants to become the Moon's internet and GPS provider. 'Think about when you move into a new apartment, you've got to hook up your phone and your internet first.' 'Step zero is communications,' Joe Landon, CEO of Crescent Space, a new subsidiary of Lockheed Martin dedicated to lunar services, told AFP.

The base would likely comprise multiple sites, he added, to diversify the targets of scientific exploration and to offer more flexibility for the landings.ĭespite this distant timeline, companies are already chomping at the bit.

Dynetics revealed its prototype design for a Moon rover last month at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.īut it probably won't be until later Artemis missions - 7 onwards - 'where we're starting to look at adding permanent habitations on the surface,' said NASA associate administrator Jim Free.Īrtemis 3, the first planned landing, won't happen until later this decade, so habitat building wouldn't start before the 2030s.

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