Lunar Outpost, one of three companies selected by NASA in April for the first phase of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) Services program, has replaced Lockheed Martin with Leidos as its partner on the project. The change will result in significant design revisions for the rover.
Leidos will bring its expertise in human factors, mission assurance, and systems engineering to the Lunar Dawn team, according to a statement from Lunar Outpost. “Astronaut safety is our number one priority when building our vehicle, and we are thrilled to have the industry leader in human-centered design on our team,” said Forrest Meyen, program manager for Lunar Dawn at Lunar Outpost.
Justin Cyrus, chief executive of Lunar Outpost, confirmed that Lockheed Martin is no longer involved in the rover project. “We just weren’t able to reach an agreement as we were negotiating the terms and conditions of the statement of work for this contract,” he said. “We still think that Lockheed Martin is a great company. However, it wasn’t a good fit for us or them to work together as a part of this contract.”
Cyrus said the companies decided to part ways about three months ago. After that decision, Lunar Outpost started discussions with Leidos about joining Lunar Dawn. He said the companies held off announcing the teaming arrangement until the paperwork was complete.
The change in partners will lead to significant design revisions for the rover. “This rover doesn’t have any Lockheed Martin IP in it. This is only Lunar Outpost IP,” Cyrus said. “We went through a pretty detailed effort to make sure that nothing was left over from working with Lockheed Martin.”
Despite the change in companies involved, Cyrus said the team is making good progress on the LTV contract. That included recently completing a system requirements review and system design review. The team is delivering a static mockup of the rover to the Johnson Space Center this week where the crew office will test it and provide feedback on interfaces and usability.