---
title: "NASA Is Asking Electric Car Companies for Lunar Rover Ideas"
description: "NASA is asking potential industry partners, including electric car companies, to send them ideas for lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) designs."
date: "2020-02-06"
modified: "2020-02-06"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-companies-lunar-rover-ideas"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "artemis"
  - "lunar rover"
  - "NASA"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Is Asking Electric Car Companies for Lunar Rover Ideas

![NASA is asking potential industry partners, including electric car companies, to send them ideas for lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) designs.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/nasa-electric-car-companies-lunar-rover-ideas.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Lunar Vehicle

NASA is [asking](<https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-to-industry-send-ideas-for-lunar-rovers>) potential industry partners, including electric car companies, to send ideas for a lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) that could one day transport astronauts across the surface of the Moon.

"We are turning to industry to offer us exciting approaches to leverage existing systems here on Earth — including law enforcement, military, or recreational vehicles — that could be modified for use in space to enhance our mobility architecture," deputy associate administrator for exploration Steven Clarke said in [a statement](<https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-to-industry-send-ideas-for-lunar-rovers>).

## Moon Ride

The space agency is looking for a passenger vehicle that isn't pressurized, meaning that astronauts will have to still wear their spacesuits.

"The most we can expect crew to walk while wearing their spacesuits is about a half-mile," Marshall Smith, NASA' director of human lunar exploration programs, said. "If we can place a rover near a landing site before crew arrive, the potential for scientific return on those first missions will grow exponentially."

## Extreme Resistance

The request is part of NASA's greater ambitions to return Americans to the Moon under its Artemis program.

"We want our rovers on the Moon to draw on, and spur, innovations in electric vehicle energy storage and management, autonomous driving, and extreme environment resistance," Smith added.

**READ MORE:** [NASA to Industry: Send Ideas for Lunar Rovers](<https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-to-industry-send-ideas-for-lunar-rovers>) \[NASA\]

**More on the Artemis program:** *[NASA Proposed Sending Japanese Astronauts to the Moon](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-propose-japanese-astronauts-moon>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)