VISITORS to the Moon could race across the planet’s surface in an “extreme” car dropped there by Elon Musk.

That’s the vision of a Nasa-backed company that is working on a vehicle for lunar roadtrips of the future.

Concepts reveal what the final version of the Lunar Outpost space car might look like

Nasa’s Artemis astronauts will use the vehicles to travel across the rugged lunar terrain

Lunar Outpost, the company behind the space-age motor, says its vehicle will be capable of navigating the Moon’s treacherous south pole.

And the company recently signed a contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to delivery the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) to the Moon’s surface.

Musk’s rocket company agreed to blast the LTV to the Moon on a SpaceX Starship.

And Lunar Outpost says its car will be used to “provide surface mobility to future Nasa Artemis astronauts”.

Lunar Outpost bagged its contract from Nasa to build a human-friendly Moon rover back in 2022.

It means Lunar Outpost has been tasked with designing and building a rover that could take part in the Artemis missions.

Artemis is Nasa’s program that’s meant to re-establish a human presence on the Moon.

It’s picking up where Nasa left off in 1972 with the Apollo 17 mission – the last time humans set foot on the Moon.

“Lunar Outpost’s LTV is designed to be the backbone of lunar surface operations,”

“By enabling science and exploration, building and maintaining interplanetary infrastructure, and facilitating space resource utilisation.”

He continued: “We’re confident that SpaceX is advancing the most capable launch system ever created.

“And will successfully land our Eagle vehicles on the surface of the Moon.”

And Justin added: “This contract is instrumental to accelerating Lunar Outpost’s mission of enabling a sustainable human presence in space and we look forward to working with SpaceX to make that happen.”

Nasa is working with three different companies for building an LTV.

The vehicles will allow astronauts to travel further and faster than on foot

The Nasa-backed vehicles are built to withstand the extreme conditions of the lunar south pole

They include Intuitive Machines and Venturi Astrolab – as well as Lunar Outpost.

The space agency is forking out up to $4.6 billion on the project.

And it says that the space car will need to be decent enough to satisfy Nasa’s lunar exploration needs right through to 2039.

“We look forward to the development of the Artemis generation lunar exploration vehicle to help us advance what we learn at the Moon,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Lunar Outpost has already built early versions of its lunar space trucks

“This vehicle will greatly increase our astronauts’ ability to explore and conduct science on the lunar surface while also serving as a science platform between crewed missions.”

Nasa says that the space car needs to be able to handle the “extreme conditions” of the Moon’s South Pole.

It’s a treacherous part of the Moon where temperatures can range from 54C in the day during sunlight, right down to -203C in shadowy areas.

In fact, some of the craters are permanently shadowed and won’t have seen sunlight in billions of years, Nasa says.

Vehicles like could be whisking astronauts across the Moon in the 2030s

The vehicle will need to be able to safely operate in these extreme temperatures – and comfortably travel across the rocky terrain.

Nasa has also asked that the rovers feature autonomous driving so that it can move around without human input.

And when the rover isn’t on the clock for Nasa, it’ll be free for use for other commercial jobs – like if Lunar Outpost gets any special space contracts.

“We will use the LTV to travel to locations we might not otherwise be able to reach on foot,” said Nasa’s Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is a launch partner for Lunar Outpost’s space vehicleCredit: Reuters

The LTV is expected to be blasted into space by a SpaceX Starship, seen here during a flight test in October 2024Credit: AFP

“Increasing our ability to explore and make new scientific discoveries.

“With the Artemis crewed missions, and during remote operations when there is not a crew on the surface, we are enabling science and discovery on the Moon year around.”

Nasa’s Artemis program kicked off with Artemis 1 in November 2022.

This was an uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission to test the Orion spacecraft, as well as Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

It’s set to be followed in April 2026 with Artemis II, a crewed flyby of the Moon.

Then Artemis III is scheduled for the middle of 2027, which will be the first crewed landing on the Moon since the early seventies.

After that comes Artemis IV in September 2028, which will see an habitation module added to the upcoming Lunar Gateway orbital outpost.

It’s a space station that will circle the Moon, making it easier to travel to and from the lunar surface.

Humans haven’t visited the Moon since the early 1970sCredit: Getty

There are at least 10 planned Artemis missions right now, taking Nasa through until 2035.