Lockheed Martin Withdraws from Lunar Rover Development Plan
TapTechNews September 27th news, according to SpaceNews report, due to the failure to reach a consensus on some cooperation terms for a long time, Lockheed Martin has withdrawn from the lunar rover development plan.
The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced in April this year that it would hand over the lunar rover development project to the main contractor LunarOutpost company, and Lockheed Martin, General Motors, Goodyear Tire and other companies served as the main partners of this project.
After the 'breakup' with Lockheed Martin, LunarDawn has found a new cooperation team. The company announced on September 24 local time that Leidos has joined its LunarDawn team, and the team is working hard for NASA's lunar rover plan.
In addition to LunarOutpost, the companies involved in this project also include Astrolab and IntuitiveMachines, aiming to develop a lunar probe for the Artemis program.
Forrest Meyen, the project manager of LunarDawn, said: 'When building our lunar rover, ensuring the safety of astronauts is our top priority, and we are very pleased to see leading industry experts join our team.'
In an interview on September 25 local time, its CEO Justin Cyrus confirmed that Lockheed Martin is no longer involved in the lunar rover project. He said: 'When we were negotiating the terms and conditions of the work description of this contract, we could not reach an agreement.'
TapTechNews noticed that the company's partners also include General Motors, Goodyear and MDASpace. Lockheed Martin has disappeared from its list, and LunarOutpost once described it as the'major partner' of the lunar rover project when it won the NASA contract in April.
He did not elaborate on the reason that led to the breakup of the two companies, only saying: 'We still think Lockheed Martin is a great company. However, for us or them, it is difficult for us to work together because of this contract.'
Lockheed Martin said in a statement to SpaceNews on September 26 local time: 'Withdrawing from the LunarDawn team makes more sense for our business and strategy. Over the past three years, we have invested a lot of resources to develop lunar mobility technology. In addition, we are also evaluating how to best utilize this technology and our lunar rover on the moon and move towards building the future lunar economy.'
Justin Cyrus said that the two companies decided to part ways about three months ago, and the newcomer Leidos is not a backup for Lockheed Martin. 'Leidos is bringing its own set of specific capabilities to the LunarDawn team, and the role that Lockheed Martin would have taken is redistributed to other participating companies.'