Press Release

NASA´s Next-Generation Lunar Terrain Vehicle

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), is teaming up with AVL, Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Michelin to develop the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) to transport NASA’s Artemis astronauts around the lunar surface. This team provides multi-disciplinary expertise to deliver an innovative solution to NASA for lunar surface mobility.

 

“This team brings together unique capabilities from international industry leaders,” said Steve Krein, vice president, civil and commercial space, tactical space systems division, Northrop Grumman. “Together with our teammates, we will provide NASA with an agile, affordable vehicle designed to greatly enhance human and robotic exploration of the lunar surface to further enable a sustainable human presence on the Moon and, ultimately, Mars.”

As the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman will integrate industry leading expertise from partners.

  • AVL, an industry-leader for the development, simulation, and testing of vehicle systems, will bring its expertise in the advancement of battery electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and propulsion solutions to make lunar surface mobility a reality.
  • Intuitive Machines will build on its capability developed through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative to meet NASA and commercial demand for larger lunar surface payload delivery. Their Nova-D spacecraft utilizes four liquid methane/oxygen engines from our mature Nova-C program to precision land the vehicle.
  • Michelin will leverage the experience gained from previous collaborations with NASA to build lunar rovers, its expertise in high-tech materials, and the know-how acquired in the development of airless solutions for extreme applications to design an airless tire solution for the LTV.
  • Lunar Outpost holds key expertise in rapid innovation, dust mitigation and thermal technologies. Along with this, Lunar Outpost carries knowledge of the unique challenges encountered by mobility platforms on the Moon.


In addition to the proven expertise brought by the teammates, Northrop Grumman has engaged Apollo astronauts Dr. Harrison (Jack) Schmidt and Charles Duke, to incorporate their hands-on experiences into the design for the LTV–allowing the team to optimize the vehicle for the needs of NASA researchers and Artemis astronauts.

To learn more about Northrop Grumman’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle and the contributions from each partner, click here.

Northrop Grumman is a technology company, focused on global security and human discovery. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with capabilities they need to connect, advance and protect the U.S. and its allies. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 90,000 employees define possible every day.

About Northup Grumman
Northrop Grumman is a technology company, focused on global security and human discovery. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with capabilities they need to connect, advance and protect the U.S. and its allies. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 90,000 employees define possible every day.