A small Rocklin engineering firm is getting an unusually big assignment: helping build the electronics that could keep a future lunar rover talking, thinking and operating when it is hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth.
Innova Product Development was selected by a NASA contractor to develop two subsystems for a rover tied to the Artemis program, including a communications hub and a controller that monitors the vehicle’s systems. The Rocklin company’s role was first reported by KCRA.
The Rocklin hardware is the rover’s nervous system
One Innova subsystem is designed to act as a communications hub, allowing the rover’s various components to interact with one another. The second is a controller intended to monitor the rover and provide redundancy if a system fails — the sort of behind-the-scenes engineering that becomes considerably more important when there is no repair shop nearby.
Innova describes its work as electrical engineering design that can include hardware and firmware development, and says it helps clients move projects from demanding technical specifications to successful product launches, according to the company’s official website.
NASA is building a lunar supply chain before astronauts arrive
The assignment lands as NASA accelerates its plans for sustained activity near the Moon’s south pole. In a May announcement, NASA said it had awarded contracts to Astrolab and Lunar Outpost for an initial phase of lunar terrain vehicles, with crewed and uncrewed mobility systems targeted for the lunar surface by 2028, according to the space agency.
Those vehicles are meant to do more than ferry astronauts around. NASA says its lunar terrain vehicle concept will combine Apollo-style crewed mobility with the remote operation and scientific capabilities associated with planetary rovers, relying on advanced power management, communications and navigation systems, as outlined on the agency’s lunar rover program page.
A nearly two-decade path to the Moon
Company founder Cameron Spangler founded Innova nearly two decades ago and told KCRA he never imagined the business would end up working for NASA. He described the rover project as carrying historical significance, while the company is also hiring three additional engineers to support the work, the station reported.
Innova’s careers page specifically seeks hardware and firmware engineers and lists aerospace applications among the experience that would be useful. That makes the NASA project a potential hiring story for Rocklin as well as a space story, particularly if the contract grows beyond the initial two subsystems.
The immediate assignment does not mean a rover stamped “Rocklin” will be rolling across the Moon by itself. It does mean a local engineering shop is joining the wider Artemis supply chain, where communications, monitoring and backup systems may be just as important as the wheels making the trip.
