Lockheed Martin and General Motors partner to design manned lunar rover
Capitalism in space: Lockheed Martin and General Motors announced yesterday that they are partnering to design a manned lunar rover, intended for sale to NASA’s Artemis program as well as any other manned lunar missions anyone else should decide to fly.
Lockheed and GM don’t have a NASA contract to build the LTV [Lunar Terrain Vehicle]; the agency hasn’t awarded any such deals yet. But the companies are positioning themselves to be in the driver’s seat when such decisions are made — and when other customers may come along as well.
Obviously the first customer for this moon buggy would be NASA for Artemis. Nor is this the only manned rover being planned. Toyota and Japan’s space agency JAXA are also partnering to build one.
The decision by NASA to use Starship as its lunar lander however has made such a project much more viable. Unlike the lunar landers proposed by Blue Origin and Dynectics, Starship has the payload capacity to carry such things to the Moon, right off the bat. Thus it makes sense now to start designing them and offering them for sale. We should not be surprised if other car manufacturers start proposing their own manned rovers.
Moreover, Starship’s potential also means these rovers could be purchased by others for work on the Moon. If anyone besides NASA decides to hire SpaceX and Starship for their own lunar missions, the Lockheed Martin/GM LTV can also be sold to them. So can the Toyota rover. So could one built by Ford or Mazarati.
Isn’t freedom and capitalism wonderful? Instead of a half century of the nothing that international cooperation and government control brought us in space, private enterprise is suddenly in a burst opening the entire solar system to the world. And don’t expect the pace to slow.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Capitalism in space: Lockheed Martin and General Motors announced yesterday that they are partnering to design a manned lunar rover, intended for sale to NASA’s Artemis program as well as any other manned lunar missions anyone else should decide to fly.
Lockheed and GM don’t have a NASA contract to build the LTV [Lunar Terrain Vehicle]; the agency hasn’t awarded any such deals yet. But the companies are positioning themselves to be in the driver’s seat when such decisions are made — and when other customers may come along as well.
Obviously the first customer for this moon buggy would be NASA for Artemis. Nor is this the only manned rover being planned. Toyota and Japan’s space agency JAXA are also partnering to build one.
The decision by NASA to use Starship as its lunar lander however has made such a project much more viable. Unlike the lunar landers proposed by Blue Origin and Dynectics, Starship has the payload capacity to carry such things to the Moon, right off the bat. Thus it makes sense now to start designing them and offering them for sale. We should not be surprised if other car manufacturers start proposing their own manned rovers.
Moreover, Starship’s potential also means these rovers could be purchased by others for work on the Moon. If anyone besides NASA decides to hire SpaceX and Starship for their own lunar missions, the Lockheed Martin/GM LTV can also be sold to them. So can the Toyota rover. So could one built by Ford or Mazarati.
Isn’t freedom and capitalism wonderful? Instead of a half century of the nothing that international cooperation and government control brought us in space, private enterprise is suddenly in a burst opening the entire solar system to the world. And don’t expect the pace to slow.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
According to this artist concept, is not far from what SpaceX is planning. (No evidence)
https://electrek.co/2020/06/06/tesla-cybertruck-modified-lunar-vehicle/
Apparently the Germans had a concept built back in 2016. Arrange to fly to the moon on a falcon 9.
https://electrek.co/2016/11/30/auds-all-electric-vehicle-moon-rover-spacex-falcon-9/
There’s been a lot of changes the battery technology. Graphing batteries, glass batteries, and now aluminum batteries which are much lighter, hold a larger charge, and charges fast… almost like a capacitor.
Article:
EV Range Breakthrough As New Aluminum-Ion Battery Charges 60 Times Faster Than Lithium-Ion
https://flip.it/WEAGFw
Lots of claims, few products. I’ll cross my fingers and hope this one is real. It’ll actually make electric cars more than 25% efficient. Charging stations could be embedded in the road.
Aluminum is a common element, that’ll be cheaper to ship to space… It could be also be manufactured off world?
I wish the engineers on this project success, but I am worried about Lockheed’s management after reading this headline in the Daily Mail – “ Lockheed Martin forced top execs including a three-star general to complete three-day Zoom course to ‘unlearn their white male privilege’”.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9625609/Lockheed-Martin-defense-execs-Zoom-course-unlearn-white-male-privilege.html
“white male privilege” = “competitive advantage”. Biology isn’t interested in ‘playing nice’; biology is interested in out-competing other biology. I would say ‘you compete’, not ‘I’ll voluntarily reduce my ability”.
D-Day shows what gov’t CAN do…if it wants too.
Since Apollo-spaceflight starved. Bill Gates could have done something like SpaceX-but didn’t. Musk is Korolev. He has a forceful personality.
LockMart already lost their vitality when Kelly Johnson passed-so I’m suprised the CRT folk bothered to show up-because corporate profit-seekers gelded LockMart long before the woke crowd was even born. NASA had the passion but no money. Wall Street-that libertarians defend no matter what evil they do-have money…but no passion-no soul. Musk has both. He is truly an endangered species.
If I were driving down the road and had a blow-out….and had to either swerve into Elon on one side—or a short bus?
Sorry, Corky….but you’re eating the engine block today.
It sounds like everyone expects humans (in enough numbers to open a car dealership) to return to the Moon soon. That’s not something I expected to see in my lifetime, but it does seem to be happening anyway. It’s an interesting time to be alive.
When people were speculating about what musk might do for a lunar rover, he tease them with this tweet 3 years ago.
Cyborg Dragon Tesla almost done
5:24 PM · Jun 24, 2018
Apparently he has his own ideas that is thinking about or will unveil at the proper time.
I would just use a modified 4 person dune buggy as a model starting point.
Instead of a steel tube frame just use aluminum.
Keep the high ground clearance ability.
Keep the roll cage for safety.
Turn it to electric two wheel drive.
Use the old lunar rover design for the wheels.
And keep it simple.
The only problem i can see is recharging. It will take a very large solar system to do it inside 24 hours.