Five decades after its last lunar rover, and eight months after it announced its intentions to build a new one, GM has shown off what its new extraterrestrial vehicle will look like. In a post on Instagram, the team has shown its design concept. As with the original lunar rover, the new “Lunar Terrain Vehicle” doesn’t exactly look luxurious, but would appear to be well suited to the low-gravity, high-intensity conditions.
With folding seats and four wheels, the
LTV looks a bit like a cabover truck with no bodywork. In several shots, it
doesn’t have a driver either. In fact, there doesn’t really seem to be a
steering wheel, though there may be some controls on a central console. That’s
because, as previously announced, the vehicle will be autonomous. That will
allow it to prepare the surface of the Moon for human landings, provide payload
transportation, and expand the range and utility of science experiments
conducted in space.
Used as part of NASA’s Artemis program,
the LTVs will help astronauts get back to the Moon. NASA intends to land the
first woman and person of color on the surface of the Moon as part of the
mission, which is also a stepping stone for the larger mission of sending humans
to the surface of Mars.
