As NASA prepares for its historic crewed flyby of the moon on the Artemis II mission, researchers in the Midwest are working to answer a critical question for future lunar exploration: how astronauts will drive on the moon’s surface.
A team at the University of Iowa is partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to design and test a lunar terrain vehicle, using one of the world’s largest driving simulators to recreate the unique and extreme conditions astronauts will face.
“We’ve been working on this project for about three years,” said Dr. Chris Schwarz, director of engineering and modeling research at the University of Iowa’s Driving Safety Research Institute.
The collaboration combines highly detailed computer modeling from Wisconsin with Iowa’s National Advanced Driving Simulator, a massive motion-based system capable of mimicking real-world driving conditions, including those far beyond Earth.
“It all starts with the computer models,” Schwarz said. “Very highly detailed computer models that can do vehicle dynamics very precisely and accurately, and even to the extent of modeling the terrain, the lunar dirt, which is called regolith.”
The simulator’s scale is what sets it apart. Its motion base moves across a space roughly the size of a basketball court, allowing researchers to replicate the physical sensations of driving in reduced gravity.
“When you have the motion cues, then you can feel what the effect of changing the gravity to one-sixth G, which is what you’re going to feel on the moon,” Schwarz said. “The car would get a little bouncier on the lunar surface and the handling of the vehicle would be a lot different.”
Designing a vehicle for the moon requires rethinking nearly every aspect of driving on Earth. Traditional tires, for example, won’t work.
“They’re usually like sort of a mesh kind of a wheel, because you can’t afford to get a flat tire on the moon,” Schwarz said.
Engineers must also account for the weight and balance of astronauts in bulky space suits, as well as the risk of tipping on uneven terrain. It's all challenges made more difficult by the lack of familiar driving instincts.
“The intuition that we have driving our cars for when you might lose control and roll over is not going to serve you at all driving on the moon,” Schwarz said. “They need to develop a new intuition.”
Beyond the terrain, visibility poses another major hurdle. Future Artemis missions are targeting the moon’s south pole, where the sun sits low on the horizon, creating extreme lighting conditions.
“The sunlight will be brighter than anything we’ve ever experienced on Earth, but the shadows will also be darker than any darkness we’ve ever experienced,” Schwarz said. “And it can switch instantly.”
Those rapid shifts in light and shadow could make it difficult for astronauts to read instruments or navigate safely, challenges researchers are working to simulate as closely as possible.
While the work will not directly impact Artemis II, Schwarz said the mission marks a major step forward in human space exploration.
“Artemis II is going to be just a milestone,” he said. “It’s the first step over the next several years of us getting back towards and on the moon.”
For Schwarz, the mission also carries personal significance.
“I was only a baby the last time we went,” he said. “So this time I get to enjoy the whole experience, and I’m going to be watching.”
Artemis II is expected to pave the way for future missions that could return humans to the lunar surface as early as 2030.