Basic Motors and aerospace large Lockheed Martin mentioned Wednesday they’ll develop a automobile able to carrying astronauts and gear longer distances throughout the moon.

The announcement comes as NASA lays groundwork to return people to the lunar floor.

It’s the corporations’ response to a request NASA put out final 12 months, which requested members of the automotive trade to pitch concepts for lunar terrain autos, often known as LTVs, that might journey sooner and farther on the moon than those used throughout the Apollo program.

The area company is looking for mobility systems that may be deployed as a part of Artemis, a U.S.-led worldwide program that has a purpose of touchdown astronauts on the lunar south pole by the mid-2020s.

“This alliance brings collectively powerhouse innovation from each corporations to make a transformative class of autos,” mentioned Rick Ambrose, government vice chairman of Lockheed Martin House, in a press release. “Floor mobility is crucial to allow and maintain long-term exploration of the lunar floor.”

NASA desires any new rovers to increase the vary astronauts need to conduct scientific experiments on the moon. The company has additionally expressed curiosity in quite a lot of mobility programs — equivalent to electrical or autonomous lunar rovers that may recharge, self-navigate or deal with excessive environments.

In its joint assertion with Lockheed Martin, GM mentioned it would incorporate autonomous expertise into the LTVs.

No stranger to working with NASA, Lockheed Martin is already the prime contractor engaged on Orion, a category of reusable area capsules which are one other key a part of Artemis.

And GM — which aided within the growth of the chassis and wheels for the lunar rovers used throughout Apollo 15 via 17 — indicated it’s aiming to satisfy NASA’s request for next-generation LTVs to have the ability to journey longer distances.

Apollo rovers traveled lower than 5 miles from their touchdown websites. However a wider vary of mobility is required for Artemis, NASA says, as a result of astronauts might be traversing the moon’s south pole — a colder area with rugged terrain.