NASA's vision for a future, long-term sustained presence on the Moon gained more clarity on Tuesday as the agency announced a series of contract awards for future robotic missions.
The agency announced that two companies developing lunar terrain vehicles (LTVs), Astrolab and Lunar Outpost, would each be receiving contracts valued at about $220 million each to finish their designs and get them to the Moon's surface.
Astrolab's Crewed Lunar Vehicle (CLV-1) takes after its original design, called FLEX, and Lunar Outpost's Pegasus vehicle takes heritage from its earlier Eagle design.