The next time NASA goes to the Moon, it intends to stay. Under the Artemis programme, the US space agency plans to maintain a human presence, for the very first time, on a celestial body other than Earth.
Dynetics revealed its prototype design for a Moon rover last month at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The base would likely comprise multiple sites, he added, to diversify the targets of scientific exploration and to offer more flexibility for the landings."Step zero is communications," Joe Landon, CEO of Crescent Space, a new subsidiary of Lockheed Martin dedicated to lunar services, told AFP.
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.For its scientific expeditions, NASA has tasked industry with developing an unpressurised -- that is to say, open-top -- rover for two people, ready by 2028.
The idea is to use lunar soil as a material. Other companies, such as Lockheed Martin, are developing inflatable habitat concepts.