Lunar Outpost Needs to get a Rover to the Moon...

Let me reframe that situation.  Lunar Outpost, one of the three companies chosen by NASA for the first phase of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) program, announced Nov. 21 that it signed an agreement for SpaceX to use Starship to transport the company’s Lunar Outpost Eagle rover to the moon. The companies did not disclose a schedule for the launch or other terms of the deal. 

One look at the rendering of the Eagle rover and I thought, "who else could do it?"

Lunar Outpost has revised the design of the Lunar Dawn rover it is developing for NASA after Lockheed Martin left the team working on it. Credit: Lunar Outpost

The design they were working to when Lockheed Martin left the program is at the top of this page.  It looks bigger, but it's also kinda cooler looking. 

The Lunar Terrain Vehicle program is an extension of the Artemis program to return the US to the moon.

Each company received a one-year contract to mature the design of their rovers through a preliminary design review (PDR), and the agency will later select at least one of the companies to develop the rover.

The LTV program is structured as a services contract, with the companies responsible for delivering the rover to the moon. Those companies will then be free to use those rovers commercially when not needed by NASA.

Although he didn't name other companies that were invited to propose how they'd get Lunar Dawn to the moon, Justin Cyrus, chief executive of Lunar Outpost, said in an interview that the company selected SpaceX after getting “great responses” from several companies.

“The reason we chose Starship is their technological maturation, the pace at which they move and the quality of that organization.  It’s a vehicle that we think will be able to provide reliable landing on the lunar surface, and we know that they can get it done on the timelines we need.”

As the first quoted (indented) paragraph notes, at this point, no company has been chosen as sole provider of the rover. The three companies (Lunar Outpost, Intuitive Machines and Venturi Astrolab) were given one year contracts through the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) around June of next year.  At that point NASA will either narrow down their options to one or two of the three or ask them all to submit proposals to develop the vehicle and services. 

I find it mildly surprising that CEO Cyrus says no matter what NASA does they will continue development of the Rover.  

The company, he added, plans to continue work on the rover even if not selected for the next phase of NASA’s LTV program, citing commercial interest from potential customers. “This allows us to accelerate those plans pretty drastically,” he said of the funding. “So, no matter what we’re going to be flying this vehicle on Starship.”