Moving About

Abstract

This market sector, Transportation on the Moon, is #2 in the Lunar Commerce Portfolio classification scheme, described in Fig. 6.1. It was considered as only applying to lunar surface activities. And for our purpose, we also included all EVA (i.e., extra vehicular activities) systems including space suits. You might want to change that, if you are doing your own forecast modeling, just so long as you make sure to include it somewhere else. The main categories of rovers or hoppers were assumed to be either robotic or crewed craft. And within the crewed category, we separately considered pressurized and unpressurized rovers. The precursor craft during the Apollo program was the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) (LRV, 1971), which could carry two astronauts wearing spacesuits. This sector 2 is also relatively well understood at this stage, compared to the subsequent sectors 3 thru 11. You probably already know some of the players. Hoppers, by the way, have not so far (Aug 2023) been deployed on the Moon—although a helicopter is operating on Mars. Hoppers provide the mobility of helicopters, including the aerial perspective, on a planetary surface without any atmospheric pressure. A craft lands, then takes off again, and translates sideways, before landing a second time (and potentially many more times).