"At issue is the agency's "Lunar Terrain Vehicle" (LTV) contract. In April 2024, the space agency awarded a few tens of millions of dollars to three companies-Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Astrolab-to complete preliminary design work on vehicle concepts. NASA then planned to down-select to one company to construct one or more rovers, land on the Moon, and provide rover services for a decade beginning in 2029."
"This is bad for competition, and it leaves NASA vulnerable. Recently, one of NASA's two new spacesuit providers, Collins, dropped out of the program. This left only Axiom Space as a provider of suits for the lunar surface. And back in 2014, with the Commercial Crew Program, NASA very nearly awarded all of its available funding to Boeing. (SpaceX was only added in during the final weeks before the decision was announced.)"
NASA awarded preliminary LTV design contracts in April 2024 to Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Astrolab to develop lunar rover concepts. The plan called for a down-select to one company to build and operate rovers starting in 2029 under a fixed-price services contract with up to $4.6 billion potential value. Companies completed designs, prototypes, and final bids in August, and NASA is preparing a final selection. Funding only one provider risks losing competition and program resilience. Recent supplier withdrawals and past procurement nearly concentrated funding with Boeing illustrate vulnerabilities of single-provider outcomes.
Read at Ars Technica
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