For the future Artemis missions, NASA needs a more powerful vehicle capable of traveling farther to explore the moon's rugged south polar region which is where the space agency plans to establish a lunar base. “When you design for the moon and for space applications, the force of gravity is different and has to be taken into account,” said Madhu Raghavan, Global Research & Development Group Manager at GM. “There are extreme temperature swings, and the radiation in space becomes a challenge in terms of systems design. You’re also operating in a vacuum and designing your systems to withstand the shock of the actual launch.”