As part of a year-long feasibility study, each company delivered a static mockup of its vehicle to Johnson in late September, began rover testing in October and the first tests inside the Active Response Gravity Offload system. Completed the round in December. ARGOS) test facility. The gravity of the Moon’s surface is one-sixth of what we experience here on Earth, so to simulate it, ARGOS offers an analog environment with pressure-suited subjects off for various low-gravity simulations. can load
Steve Munday
NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle Project Manager
NASA engineering teams conducted tests where appropriate NASA astronauts and engineers performed tasks, exercises, and emergency drills on each rover. With astronauts serving as test subjects, these human in-loop tests are invaluable as crew members provide critical feedback on each rover’s design functionality, review display interfaces and controls, and potential safety concerns. or help identify design problems. This feedback is shared directly with each commercial supplier, to incorporate changes based on lessons learned as they develop their rover designs.
“We are excited to receive mockups from all three LTV commercial providers here at Johnson Space Center,” said LTV Project Manager Steve Munday. “This is the first major test milestone within the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract and the delivery of actual rovers just four months after these companies were awarded is remarkable.”
The test consisted of NASA astronauts and engineers wearing NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit planetary prototype spacesuit as well as Axiom Space’s Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit lunar spacesuit. Test teams conducted evaluations to understand interactions between crew, spacesuit, and LTV mockups.
Wearing NASA’s prototype spacesuits, the crew members were suspended from ARGOS allowing the teams to simulate a one-sixth gravitational field of the lunar surface. This allowed crew members to perform tasks outside each rover, such as assembling or storing lunar geology instruments, deploying science payloads, and handling cargo equipment, as if they were moving on the moon.
While wearing Axiom Space’s pressurized spacesuits, the teams evaluated the level of ease or difficulty crew members had when entering and exiting the rovers, the crew compartment and design, and the display interface while wearing thick spacesuit gloves. And reviewed the functionality to interact with the hand controls.
As part of the testing, the teams also conducted emergency drills, where engineers simulated the rescue of a disabled crew member. As part of NASA’s requirements, each rover must have a design that would enable an astronaut to single-handedly rescue their crewmates in an emergency.
Since NASA Chosen The companies, Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab are working to meet NASA’s requirements through preliminary design reviews. In 2025, the agency solicits task order proposals to any eligible providers for a demonstration mission to continue development of the LTV, deliver it to the lunar surface, and validate its performance and safety prior to Artemis V. plans to release, when NASA plans to begin using LTV for crew operations.
Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts — including the next American, and the first international partner astronauts — to the Moon to support scientific discovery, technology evolution, economic benefits, and the foundation for future crewed missions to Mars.
Learn about the rovers, suits and tools that will help Artemis astronauts explore more of the Moon.