NASA's Artemis program aims to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon, building on extensive prior research and knowledge gained from satellite missions.

The program plans to deploy new rovers, starting with Artemis V, which is scheduled to launch no sooner than 2030.

Unlike the Apollo missions, Artemis astronauts will have immediate access to a mobility vehicle, significantly enhancing their exploration capabilities on the lunar surface.

One of the key vehicles in this initiative is the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV), which will be crucial for testing technologies, evaluating crew compartment design, and conducting rover maintenance.

The LTV is designed to accommodate two crew members and will be operable remotely, featuring advanced control concepts such as supervised autonomy and self-levelling capabilities.

To support these efforts, NASA is actively testing a prototype known as the Ground Test Unit (GTU), which evaluates lunar rovers developed by private companies.

The GTU will facilitate safer evaluations of rover operations while also helping to reduce costs for the involved private companies.

Lunar Outpost is developing the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover, which will be utilized in upcoming IM-2 and IM-3 missions, focusing on In-Situ Resource Utilization.

Venturi Astrolab is working on the FLEX rover, designed with hyper-deformable wheels and modular batteries to meet various lunar objectives.

Intuitive Machines is notable for its Nova-C Lander, which successfully landed the first private spacecraft on the Moon during the IM-1 mission.

This renewed lunar exploration effort echoes the historic Apollo 11 mission from July 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon.