NASA announced Wednesday it awarded the next-generation moon rover contract to the Lunar Dawn team, which includes Lockheed Martin. 

Lunar Dawn includes company Lunar Outpost as the prime contractor, with “principal partner” Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and General Motors, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and MDA Space. The contract is worth up to $4.6 billion, according to a news release. 

The lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) will be used by Artemis astronauts to “travel around the lunar surface, conducting scientific research … and preparing for human missions to Mars,” NASA said. 

The contract includes Intuitive Machines and Venturi Astrolab. 

“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, in the release. “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.”

Lockheed Martin employs more than 10,000 people in Colorado. In addition to its Waterton Canyon campus in Littleton, it has offices in Denver, Aurora, Highlands Ranch and Colorado Springs.

“These unique technologies will enable the future of critical infrastructure required for a sustainable presence in space where humans can live, work far from Earth,” said Kirk Shireman, vice president of Lunar Exploration Campaigns at Lockheed Martin, in the release. “Lockheed Martin is thrilled to be combining expertise with a diverse set of companies to embark on this next generation rover that will expand exploration and our understanding of the lunar surface.”

“The LTV will be able to handle the extreme conditions at the moon’s South Pole and will feature advanced technologies for power management, autonomous driving, and state of the art communications and navigation systems,” according to NASA. 

Lunar Outpost, founded in 2017 and based in Golden, builds spacecraft and robotic systems. It’s the only company “presently contracted to design four lunar rovers and two already built and qualified.” 

“Surface mobility is a critical capability for humanity’s future in space, and Lunar Outpost looks forward to driving value in the cislunar economy by providing a reliable, safe and capable vehicle that will be used to provide mobility to Artemis astronauts and perform critical missions autonomously on the moon for commercial endeavors,” said Lunar Outpost CEO Justin Cyrus in the a news release. “We look forward to leveraging the strengths of Lockheed Martin, a company with extensive human and advanced space systems experience, and our other industry teammates, GM, Goodyear and MDA Space, to provide an unparalleled technical offering at a commercially viable price point.”

NASA’s Artemis missions will send astronauts to the moon for “scientific discovery, technology evolution, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for crewed missions to Mars,” the release states. Those astronauts will include the first woman, person of color and “international partner” to land on the moon.