NASA Awards $30 Million to Companies to Design Moon Rovers for Artemis Astronauts

NASA awarded $30M contracts to 3 companies - Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab - to design lunar vehicles to transport astronauts on the Moon for Artemis missions.

The vehicles need to withstand extreme cold temperatures on the Moon's south pole and have robotic arms, semi-autonomous driving, and room for 2 astronauts.

Intuitive Machines' vehicle is called the Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover (RACER).

Venturi Astrolab's is called the Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover.

The company that wins the services contract can also deploy their vehicle commercially on the Moon when NASA isn't using it.