- The company Astrolab has developed a “lunar car”
- After the Moon, FLEX could serve on Mars
- The Artemis program wants to bring humans back to the Moon, for good
It’s no longer a secret that NASA aims to return to the Moon shortly. The initial goal of 2024 seems utopian today, but the American space agency still hopes to reach our natural satellite by 2025. With the Artemis program, and the third mission of the name, two astronauts will set foot on the Moon.
But there is no question for NASA to reproduce the mistakes of the past. This time the presence of man must be perpetuated with installations on site. From Artemis 4, whose launch is scheduled for 2026, the agency wants to develop a solid base on the surface.
In order to allow astronauts to move and carry heavy loads over long distances, NASA asked the specialized company Astrolab for help. The latter has just made the presentation of Flex, the “first ever lunar car” Of the history.
The Moon, a new training ground?
The project took a new step in its development last week when Astrolab announced that it had signed a partnership with SpaceX to send Flex to lunar soil. Direct descendant of the LRV, the lunar rover of the Apollo missions 15 to 17, FLEX should be three times larger.
With two seats, FLEX can spin on the lunar regolith at more than 20km/h, a common occurrence on Earth but a historic feat on the Moon. With its robotic arm FLEX is more than a simple “car” it is a modular vehicle capable of doing great things and helping astronauts on a daily basis.
Astrolab leaders were very confident during their presentation and they did not hesitate to present visuals of an evolved version of FLEX on Martian soil. The Moon would only be a new training ground here. Far from being a prototype, FLEX has already been driving for several months in the Californian desert where it is subjected to the worst possible conditions.
Artemis: making the Moon habitable and inhabited
With the Artemis program, NASA is launching two major challenges. The first is to return to the Moon and thus repeat the feat of 1969 and the Apollo program. But the second part of the mission, which is unprecedented, is to make the Moon habitable.
Our natural satellite must become an advanced base for the human species and thus launch (timidly) the colonization of space. In addition to the ground missions which should be numerous, NASA aims to put a space station in orbit. Direct descendant of the ISS “Gateway” would then be an open door to deep space.
A station that will be permanently inhabited, initially by NASA astronauts, then by other space agencies. The Frenchman Thomas Pesquet is as such one of the great favorites for the Moon, he who has never hidden his desire to achieve this “childhood dream”.
For now only the four astronauts of the Artemis 2 program are known and NASA should wait for their return to Earth to give the names of the first two people who will go to the Moon with Artemis 3 in 2025. France and Europe will have to wait until Artemis 5 or 6 before being entitled to a seat on one of these prestigious missions.
