ARVADA, Colorado — Lunar Outpost, a private space company, is putting the pedal to the metal on its lunar terrain vehicle (LTV), a large rover that Artemis astronauts may use to wheel across the moon’s dusty, crater-pocked landscape.
A tour of Lunar Outpost’s Mission Control here offered an up-close look at the status of the group’s LTV design, the Eagle, and how use of its Autonomous Test Facility in Rye, Colorado is helping the company develop and mature the off-Earth, off-road vehicle.
The design is “a mix between a dune buggy and a heavy-duty truck,” said Justin Cyrus, Lunar Outpost’s CEO and co-founder.
Lunar Outpost is one of three teams announced by NASA in April 2024 to perform a one-year feasibility study for the space agency. The contract was awarded to the Lunar Dawn team, led by Lunar Outpost in collaboration with General Motors, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, MDA Space and Leidos.
Intuitive Machines and Venturi Astrolab were also selected for LTV work. NASA is expected to announce its LTV selectee by the end of the year.
Tantalizingly close
A trial run of technology developed by Lunar Outpost — its small Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover — has already flown to the moon, tucked aboard Intuitive Machine’s Athena lunar lander.
However, Athena tipped onto its side during its lunar landing on March 6, 2025. The mishap prevented MAPP’s deployment to the lunar surface and planned exploration of the lunar south pole environment.
“Unfortunately, that first mission didn’t go quite as we hoped,” Cyrus said. “But we were able to control the rover in cislunar [Earth-moon] space…and were able to get data from the lunar surface.”
“We got tantalizingly close to actually driving on the moon’s surface,” he added.
Another Lunar Outpost payload is slated to be on board Intuitive Machine’s next moon landing attempt, which is slated for 2026. That mission will target the Reiner Gamma region, to study the mysterious natural feature there that’s known as a lunar swirl.
Cozy setting
Lunar Outpost’s Mission Control is a cozy setting. A few rows of high-tech, high-definition, fast-refresh-rate computer screens sit under ceiling light fixtures that change the color of the room as the situation dictates.
“We use red, green, blue, purple for different modes and operations,” Cyrus said, noting that a very bright red indicated a crisis situation. Each station tackles a different function, handled by a flight director and support personnel.
Large screens capture the scene at Lunar Outpost’s Autonomous Test Facility in Rye. That site has been specially landscaped with craters, rocks and berms.
“This is one of our most informative test sites. We can test large-scale vehicles for long periods of time,” whether they are under autonomous control or with human interface and interaction, Cyrus pointed out.
Test evaluations of moon-bound equipment are being run through the “Stargate” Lunar Outpost mission control platform. It is designed to enable operator decisions in real time, providing the human touch while teleoperating robotic systems and tasking them with complex autonomous functions.
Different operating modes
The Lunar Outpost LTV will be able to make tracks on the moon in different modes. It’s designed to be driven actively by astronauts on the surface of the moon, or in full autonomy drive without human intervention, or teleoperated from mission control here on Earth.
“It can go up to 25 miles per hour [40 kph]. You don’t want to go faster than that. When you hit a rock at that speed, you can get a pretty dramatic response,” said Cyrus. The LTV will normally operate at speeds lower than 15 mph (24 kph). But in emergency traverse scenarios on flat plains, he said, the LTV can clock faster speeds.
Autonomous LTV operations can be used for repetitive and mundane tasks. A robotic arm on the back of the vehicle can reach out a couple of meters to clean off solar panels or repair moon landing and launch pads. That feature will enable astronauts to spend their precious time on high-value science and exploration objectives, Cyrus said.
Lunar Outpost’s LTV design includes easy grabbing of tools and a workbench for Artemis astronauts.
Cyrus said that astronaut feedback about the LTV has been priceless. For example, astronauts have given advice about the height of the stairs to get in and out of the vehicle, how much they’ll be able to raise their knees and the proper positioning of grab handles taking into account the reduced mobility that spacesuits impose. All of it has proven invaluable, Cyrus said.
Deep dives
The LTV will have to be able to operate on the moon during both day and night, so thermal management of the vehicle will be key.
Cyrus told Space.com that Lunar Outpost is pushing forward on unique technologies that will allow the vehicle to dive deeply into permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) on the moon.
Always in darkness, PSRs are thought to retain water ice that, if present, could be converted into drinkable water, breathable oxygen and rocket fuel.
“We can not only survive but operate in PSRs for many tens of hours at a time,” said Cyrus.
“We are a lunar mobility company,” he added. “We’ve put in a lot of hard work to ‘de-risk’ our technology over the years … to validate our critical systems … to get ready for lunar surface missions. We are ready to drive.”
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