With about two and a half years to go to a crew mission planned for the Moon, NASA still decides which company will receive a slight to build the Lunar Terrain vehicle of the Artemis Program (LTV). In the meantime, they are also looking for a good set of tires. Last week, the agency opened the submissions of its “rock and roll with Nasa Challenge”, a contest to see who can design the four -wheelers of the imminent LTV.
A lunar rover does not simply wear a set of super durable rubber tires. Engineers must consider a unique set of challenges in order to ensure the safety of astronauts when navigate the lasting and dusty lunar terrain with the seventh gravity of the earth. Although there are many prototypes, the latest rover tires to tackle the moon arrived on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The LTV included in the long -awaited lunar return of NASA will have to take into account the same experienced conditions during previous visits, while taking into account new considerations.
“NASA makes the teams on the Moon to establish a lasting presence and focused on the sciences that will serve from springboard to March,” said challenge planners in their open call. “At the heart of this ecosystem is mobility and innovation in mobility will be the key to maximizing exploration yields.”
NASA noted that Apollo’s Rovers have tripled the range that astronauts could reach only in their costumes. After more than 50 years of additional research, discoveries and technological breakthroughs, the plan is now to go where no lunar rover has been preceded. Artemis Cargo Landers will deliver equipment to the sites along the moon’s polar lands, while crew members will carry out the daily races of sample recovery. Astronauts will also require rapid transit between lunar places.
“The challenge is a constant trade between traction, mass, materials and sustainability,” said NASA.
The LTV wheels of Artemis will have to manage the off -road lunar expanses covered with Net regolith plumes and electrostaticly loaded, as well as temperatures that regularly swing between -427 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit. While the rigid wheels of the Moon Buggy of Apollo’s mission helped maximize it at 11.2 MPH, the NASA 14.9 MPH speed target for LTV will require a completely different design which is lighter and more flexible.
Innovators have until 5 p.m. HNE on November 4, 2025 to submit their entries for phase 1 of the competition. The judgment will start the next day, with a set of 10 finalists who will be announced on December 18. A second phase and a third phase for additional tests will start on May 2 and 1, 2026, with a live demonstration of the winner planned for a certain time in July. If everything goes as planned (and it is a large “if”), the wheels will be installed on the LTV accompanying Artemis V in 2030.
“For resolvers, the mandate is clear: reinventing the lunar environment wheel, which moves faster and works longer than anything that has created to date,” said NASA.
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