Last week’s 37th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs brought exciting news when Teledyne Brown Engineering, Sierra Space, and Nissan North America announced their partnership in the creation of the next-generation crewed Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV).

Huntsville engineers will play a significant role in the LTV’s development. According to a Teledyne Brown spokesperson, Teledyne Brown Engineering will be the lead on the design and integration of the vehicle, which will be performed at the Huntsville facility.

Born in Huntsville during the Apollo era to support the Wernher von Braun team’s development of the Redstone Rocket, Teledyne is no stranger to NASA missions, having supported essentially every major U.S. space initiative.

As the Prime Contractor, the company has performed Payload Operations and Integration work for the space program for over 40 years for Space Shuttle missions and for International Space Station (ISS) payloads. Teledyne also provided power systems for the Curiosity and Perseverance Rovers, which are currently operating on Mars. More recently, it designed, built, and delivered the first of three Launch Vehicle Stage Adapters for NASA’s Artemis Vehicles.

“Teledyne Brown Engineering built the first lunar rover prototype for Dr. Werner von Braun in the 1960’s and we have subsequently supported almost every major U.S. human rated space mission,” stated Reggie Spivey, Vice President of Teledyne’s Space Systems Group, “We are proud to continue our extensive presence in space and are excited at the possibility of transporting the first woman and person of color on the surface of the moon.”

Although Boeing and General Motors ultimately worked together to build the lunar rover that transported astronauts on the Moon, Teledyne Brown’s (then Brown Engineering Company) prototypes proved invaluable for Marshall Space Flight Center’s human factors studies that prepared the astronauts for the operation of the rovers on the lunar surface.

Teledyne’s partner Sierra Space will provide flight software, space qualified mechanisms, communications, pointing, navigation, and timing for the LTV. Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser space plane, which is slated to perform future cargo supply and return missions for NASA to and from the ISS, is a part of the company’s robust portfolio of products.

The Dream Chaser also has potential future ties to the Rocket City–the Federal Aviation Administration is in the process of deciding whether it will be able to land at the Huntsville International Airport. If approved by the FAA, it could start landing on Runway 18L-36R beginning in 2023.

Nissan North America, meanwhile, will bring its autonomous driving and intelligent vehicle systems technologies to the project.

“With this partnership, we will explore possibilities of autonomy and teleoperations, power management systems, vehicle connectivity, and human-machine interface to help shape the future of intelligent lunar rovers. We will then translate these learnings from the LTV operating on the lunar surface back to earth,” said Maarten Sierhuis, Alliance Global Director of Nissan’s Alliance Innovation Laboratory in Silicon Valley, Calif.

Other partners on the LTV team include Textron Specialized Vehicles, which manufactures Arctic Cat Off Road vehicles; Relative Dynamics, which brings experience in space communications systems; and QSTC (formerly AQST), which will bring expertise in communication, control, wheel, and traction control capabilities to the Teledyne team.

“We feel that we have created a dynamic, cutting edge and proven team for this effort,” stated Scott Hall, president of Teledyne Brown Engineering. “Together this team will deliver a rugged, versatile, and intuitive vehicle to support our future in space.”

Images provided by Teledyne Brown Engineering.