Development of a multi-purpose truck carrying astronauts on the Moon

A California startup is developing a truck to carry people and goods across the rough terrain of the Moon.

Aerospace company Venturi Astrolab Inc. in Hawthorn, California, is building a multi-purpose truck to build infrastructure, transport astronauts, and help people permanently settle on the Moon.

Astrolab truck prototype test run in Hawthorne.

NASA aims to return astronauts to the Moon as early as 2025 under the Artemis program. This program will develop a sustainable base that will serve as a stepping stone for future Mars missions, where astronauts can explore the Moon, live, work and train in space. The Moon is about 383,000 km from Earth while the distance to Mars is 225 million km.

Astrolab was founded in 2019 by former employees of NASA and SpaceX. Their rover can complete tasks such as construction, transporting supplies to build a lunar base, scientific research and exploration, and carrying astronauts. Currently, Astrolab is testing a prototype, according to Jaret Matthews, the company's founder and chief executive officer. Called Flexible Logistics and Exploration (LEX), the vehicle is designed to carry a variety of items. The carriage can be remotely controlled, operated semi-automatically, even edited to include a team look.

According to Astrolab, the final model will weigh 500kg and be able to run on lunar terrain. The FLEX also has insulation and enough battery capacity to get the vehicle through the Moon night, a two-week period when the Moon is in darkness and the temperature drops to -130 degrees Celsius. The company says the vehicle is capable of ability to keep warm for 100 - 300 hours at night at the Moon's south pole before using solar cells to produce electricity.

On March 9, at Hawthorne, Matthews tested the prototype on rocky ground, moving horizontally, spinning, collecting and transporting goods. He said the vehicle has twice the load of a Ford F-150 truck.