The United States space agency NASA is about to implement a thrilling mission after a gap of more than 50 years.
In fact, in a recent announcement, NASA announced that three companies, Intuitive Machine, Lunar Output, and Venturi Astrolabe, have been selected to develop vehicles for their upcoming Lunar Artenes mission. The Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) will support scientific research during lunar missions and prepare for future human missions to Mars. Also, NASA mentioned that it is also planning to send two African and American astronauts, including a woman, to the moon on this mission for the first time.
Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston, expressed excitement about the spacecraft's
development, saying, "This vehicle will greatly enhance our astronauts'
ability to conduct scientific exploration and operations on the lunar surface,
as well as serve as a scientific platform between crewed missions."
The US space agency plans to begin
using LTVs for crew operations during Artemis V. Notably, the company signed a
$4.6 billion contract with “firm-fixed-price task orders”.
"We will use LTV to travel to
places we cannot reach on foot," said Jacob Bleicher, chief research
scientist at NASA's headquarters in Washington, about the mission. In addition,
it will also enhance our ability to explore and make new scientific discoveries
on the lunar surface.”