Chinese hackers took control of a target organization’s authentication stack and maintained persistence for 10 years, with full visibility into the administrative activity.

Dubbed “Operation Highland,” the intrusion is attributed to the Velvet Ant cyberespionage threat group, which targeted vulnerable internet-facing systems before pivoting to a network with no direct external path.

Chinese hackers of the “Velvet Ant” activity cluster breached the isolated critical infrastructure network of a large organization and conducted cyber-espionage operations for 10 years.

The campaign, dubbed “Operation Highland” by Sygnia researchers who discovered it, began in 2016, targeting vulnerable internet-facing systems before pivoting to an “air-gapped” environment with no direct internet connection.

Velvet Ant’s lengthy espionage operations were documented in 2024, when Sygnia warned of a campaign targeting F5 BIG-IP devices that operated undetected for three years.

Also in 2024, Cisco warned of a zero-day in NX-OS running on Nexus switches, which was exploited by Velvet Ant to gain access to targets.

Velvet Ant attack chain

The attack begins with the compromise of internet-facing servers, though the researchers don’t mention the specific product or any vulnerability used.

Velvet Ant deployed a modified GS-Netcat reverse shell disguised as a legitimate system component that connected to a hardcoded relay domain, providing encrypted remote shell access.

The shell achieved persistence either via a malicious systemd service or through startup script modification.

Next, Velvet Ant installed a custom SOCKS5 proxy for network traffic tunneling, enabling it to reach internal systems that are not directly accessible from the internet.

The proxy ran as a daemon masquerading as ‘smbd -D,’ using different filenames and ports on each host, and turning compromised servers into internal pivot points.

The most interesting part of the attack was building a remote execution path into the isolated network.

To achieve this, Velvet Ant modified the configuration of a compromised internet-facing Nginx server to proxy specially crafted requests to a compromised backend server.

The backend server’s Nginx configuration was also altered to forward requests to a FastCGI process (fcgiwrap) listening on a separate port.

The FastCGI wrapper acted as an execution bridge, processing requests and launching a custom binary named ‘uptime.’

The tool established SSH connections to systems within the isolated critical infrastructure network using parameters supplied in HTTP POST requests.

Having established their access into the isolated environment, Velvet Ant shifted focus to long-term persistence and credential theft by targeting Linux Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM), a set of libraries that let administrators set up methods to authenticate users.

The attackers replaced legitimate ‘pam_unix.so’ modules with backdoored versions that accept hardcoded passwords and harvest user credentials.

Sygnia identified nine distinct variants of the malicious PAM module, each compiled in a separate build environment, indicating a well-resourced threat actor.

The researchers say that two of the malicious PAM modules stand out for acting as a backdoor only and for collecting credentials.

Velvet Ant actors also replaced OpenSSH components such as ssh, sshd, and scp with trojanized versions that captured credentials, logged commands entered during SSH sessions, and stored the collected data locally for future retrieval.

Sygnia says that by extending control to the authentication process by modifying the PAM and OpenSSH components, the threat actor had access to credentials as they were used in the target environment and could bypass the authentication flow.

“Administrative activity became fully observable: every login; every command executed across compromised hosts. Access was no longer tied to a specific foothold but embedded into the authentication process itself,” the researchers explain.

This way, the hackers ensured their persistence despite password changes and session terminations, and reduced “the effectiveness of conventional containment measures.”

Complex cleanup

Sygnia says even after discovering the compromise, remediating it and removing Velvet Ant from the compromised environment was particularly complicated.

The threat actors had replaced so many critical components with custom versions that removing them was likely to break authentication, lock legitimate administrators out, and cause operational outages.

To tackle this problem, the researchers built a testing lab to validate the binary replacement process, profiled each host, tested the results, and prepared rollback procedures before attempting the cleanup.

Sygnia recommends that defenders treat authentication components such as PAM, OpenSSH, and Windows LSASS as critical security assets and protect them with EDR, file integrity monitoring, hardened privileged access, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and continuous monitoring for unauthorized modifications.

Organizations should plan for offline recovery, which includes strict backups with an adequate schedule for automatically creating snapshots with immutable copies.

The restoration process should consider testing the backups and recovery hosts running operating systems that have been validated, along with the recovery scripts.

Security teams log 54% of successful attacks and alert on just 14%. The rest move through your environment unseen.

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Skoda has revealed the Peaq, its first seven-seat all-electric SUV and the most expensive car in the Czech automaker’s 130-year history. Built on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform at Skoda’s home plant in Mladá Boleslav, the Peaq stretches nearly 4.9 metres long and is designed to compete directly with the Kia EV9, Hyundai Ioniq 9, and Volvo EX90. The difference is price, with Skoda targeting a starting point of around €50,000 to €55,000, compared to roughly €66,000 for the EV9 and €70,000 for the Ioniq 9.

The lineup will launch with three variants. The Peaq 60 pairs a 150kW rear motor with a 63kWh battery for more than 460km of WLTP range, while the Peaq 90 steps up to a 210kW motor and a 91kWh pack for over 600km. The range-topping Peaq 90x adds a second motor for all-wheel drive and 220kW of total output, keeping the same 91kWh battery and 600km-plus range.

All three variants support DC fast charging at up to 200kW, which Skoda says will take the battery from 10 to 80 percent in approximately 28 minutes. The Peaq also supports bidirectional charging, meaning it can feed power back to a home through the VW Group’s Moon Power Ambibox DC wallbox. Vehicle-to-load capability is included as well, letting owners run external devices directly from the car’s battery.

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Inside, the third row folds flat to open up 890 litres of boot space. Options include a Sonos sound system, a panoramic glass roof, and massaging front seats. The design follows Skoda’s Modern Solid language, which debuted with the Vision 7S concept that previewed the Peaq’s shape back in 2022.

Skoda confirmed the Peaq name in January 2026 and showed a near-production version on March 30. The world premiere is set for June 23 in Monnetier-Mornex, France, with deliveries expected from mid-2026. Production will run alongside the Enyaq at Mladá Boleslav, making the Peaq the second MEB-based model built at the plant.

The pricing strategy is the Peaq’s sharpest weapon. Skoda has historically positioned itself as the VW Group’s value brand, and the Peaq extends that logic into the seven-seat EV segment where competitors have priced themselves into premium territory. The Kia EV9 starts at roughly €66,000 in Europe, the Hyundai Ioniq 9 at around €70,000, and the Volvo EX90 higher still.

That positioning matters at a time when tariffs and trade barriers are reshaping which EVs are available in which markets. A seven-seat electric SUV starting under €55,000 from a European manufacturer built in Europe avoids the import exposure that has forced several Korean and American models out of certain markets or into higher price brackets.

The Peaq also arrives into a segment that is still thin on options. The Peugeot E-5008 offers seven seats at a lower price but with less range and a smaller footprint. Above the Peaq, the choices jump quickly into luxury pricing. Skoda is betting that families shopping for a large EV want the space and capability of a premium model without the premium itself, and the Peaq’s spec sheet suggests it can deliver that.

Marvel Animation released the first trailer for season two of X-Men ’97 this week under the name Roll Call, and the footage makes the direction clear without giving every twist away. The core team ends up split across different eras after the events of the first season, with some members landing in the ancient past, others in a distant future, and all of them trying to find a route back to the time they know. Back in the 1990s, the absence leaves room for fresh waves of mutant fear and new enemies who see an opening.

The new season keeps the heart of the original but raises the stakes dramatically. Rogue is still devastated by Gambit’s death, and it will have a tremendous influence on the entire team. It has an impact not just on their mental well-being, but also on their ability to function. At the end of the last episode, there’s a brief end credits sequence in which Apocalypse holds one of Gambit’s playing cards while the guy talks to his buddies about anguish and death, hinting that old comic book themes may reemerge as the season develops. The trailer makes it clear that Apocalypse is the main antagonist, portraying himself as an Omega-level threat who claims to be the last one standing. The potential of a confrontation with Magneto heightens the drama.

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The main cast returns, including Ross Marquand as Professor X, Matthew Waterson as Magneto, and Ray Chase as Cyclops. We also have Jennifer Hale as Jean Grey, Alison Sealy-Smith as Storm, Cal Dodd as Wolverine (giving him that edge we adore), Lenore Zann as Rogue, George Buza as Beast, and the same strong blend of resolve and personality that made the first season so popular.

Some mutants that played minor parts the previous season will have far more to do this time around. Strong Guy offers some serious muscle to the fights, Psylocke provides some slick psychic moves, and Wolfsbane and Siryn get to show off their animal and sonic abilities. Then there’s Multiple Man, who is rather good at the “making copies of himself to handle stuff” trick. Meanwhile, Archangel, Havok, Polaris, and Emma Frost all receive far more screen time than the prior time. Oh, and Nightcrawler enters, engaging in some great sword combat with Exodus, while Storm has a very wonderful moment that demonstrates her leadership talents.

There are numerous new costumes floating around, as well as some really cool homage to historical covers, including a subtle nod to the first Frank Miller Wolverine comic, which was first published in 1982. The conflicts are faster and more intense, which contributes to the season’s attractiveness. What are the settings? It’s extremely diverse, which is part of the fun. he season consists of nine episodes, all of which will be available on Disney+ on July 1st.

Facepalm: Few Apple devices have won as much praise as the MacBook Neo. Cupertino’s excellent budget laptop outsold the MacBook Air and Pro during its first three weeks, and it seems AMD is feeling a little jealous of all the attention. Team Red has just posted ads for its Ryzen laptops boasting of their gaming abilities, while also pointing out that the MacBook Neo can only play five out of twenty top PC games natively.

Like other companies, AMD likely feels a little threatened by the success of a budget MacBook, so it’s gone after its weakest area: PC gaming.

In its Ryzen AI processors ad, AMD compares an HP OmniBook X Flip, which features last year’s Zen 4-based Ryzen 5 220, against the Neo, which uses Apple’s A18 Pro chip. The company writes that the x86 machine offers access to game libraries across Steam, Epic, and PC Game Pass, complete with “high frame rates” and “advanced graphics,” and with “No workarounds required”

The ad also notes that just five of the “top 20” PC games run natively on the Neo. There are also stats about the HP laptop’s 512GB of storage (compared to the Neo’s 256GB), 2-in-1 touchscreen design, and extra ports. AMD adds that the Ryzen offers 57% better multitasking, 38% faster content creation, and up to double the WiFi speed.

While there’s no arguing that the OmniBook X Flip, which starts at $999, has plenty of elements that put it above the MacBook Neo, nobody is buying one of Apple’s machines to primarily play PC games, so it’s a strange comparison to make. It’s more like AMD is simply comparing operating systems, making points that will be obvious to most people.

Moreover, claiming the Radeon 740M GPU in the Ryzen 5 220 offers high frame rates and advanced graphics is quite a stretch – only the most forgiving games are playable, and even then, they have to set at their lowest 1080p settings. Meanwhile, the Neo has been shown to play some PC games quite well, given its hardware limitations.

The MacBook Neo is the clear budget-category winner in our Best Laptops feature. It sold 1.1 million units in under a month after launch thanks to its $599 starting price, design, and macOS experience. It’s an excellent laptop for the price, but not much good for PC gaming, obviously.

Image credit: Andrew Tsai

I’ve been testing the best fitness apps for many years now, and while I’m very grateful they all exist (after all, no one app will work for every user), it’s hard not to feel as though things have stagnated somewhat.

The AI boom (or bubble that could burst, depending on who you ask) means we have more options for AI fitness algorithms to pore over data than ever before, whether you’re using them on a phone or one of the best smartwatches.

Japan’s kei car regulations in the early 1990s capped length, width, engine size, and power in ways that pushed engineers toward inventive solutions. Mazda’s short-lived Autozam brand answered with a mid-engined two seater that looked ready to join far larger and more expensive exotics on any road. A 1992 AZ-1 example with roughly 33,400 miles recently changed hands at auction for $23,500. That figure drew attention because the car produces only 63 horsepower. Once the gullwing doors rise, though, the entire package starts to make sense to anyone who values presence over outright speed.

Suzuki’s mid-1980s prototypes, which experimented with mid-engine layouts within kei limitations, served as the foundation for development. Mazda then took up the idea, naming it the AZ-550 and presenting three different body versions at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show. After further testing, they decided to produce the variation with gull wing doors.

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The production cars measured 3,295 millimeters long, 1395 millimeters wide, and 1,150 millimeters tall. Weighing 720 kg, it was no slouch, thanks to a steel perimeter frame covered in lightweight composite panels that could be easily replaced after a bump or two. The engine, as it turned out, was mounted behind the cabin and drove the rear wheels through a five-speed manual transmission.

Suzuki generously offered a 657 cubic centimeter turbocharged three-cylinder engine for the AZ-1, which had the most power allowed under kei rules at the time, 64 PS at 6,500 rpm and 85 Nm of torque at 4,000 rpm. So, what about the AZ-1’s suspension and brakes? Independent struts all around and compact disc brakes, along with quick steering, keep the handling responsive. The car’s weight distribution was around 44% front and 56% rear.

In the real world, that translated into a 9 to 11 second sprint to 100 km/h for the pros and a top speed electronically limited to 140 km/h, but those modest stats belied a truly fascinating compact motorcar on a twisty route. At the time, reviewers lauded its sharp handling and lovely balance, which begged to be propelled forward by fluid inputs.

Design-wise, it was a bit of a cheat, since they replicated the styling of Italian supercars, with a low wedge shape, a big rear spoiler, and side intakes that screamed ‘look at me’. The gull wing doors hinged along the ceiling added to the drama while also allowing them to remove the body without utilizing B pillars. The side windows were more minimalist, with only minor folding sections, which was done on purpose to make the car appear more exotic.

Of course, not everything was perfect; taller drivers had to lower their necks slightly for the roof mechanism, and there was no automatic transmission, making it out of reach for certain buyers. It sat higher than the Suzuki Cappuccino and the Honda Beat.The Japanese economy’s bubble burst shortly after its inception, and demand was smaller than expected.

From October 1992 to 1994, they produced 4,392 AZ-1s. Suzuki later added a distinct “Cara” model, which raised the platform total by a notch or two. Unfortunately, this resulted in a huge number of unsold vehicles in storage, necessitating special edition runs to clear inventory. The limited numbers have spurred collector demand for the AZ-1, and you can now get an immaculate original example for a good price, far more than you would pay for a similar kei sports car from the same era.
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My life has changed so much since my time as a Voices of Change fellow during the 2023 school year. As I wrote in my final essay of the fellowship, the beautiful, imperfect school I loved and helped build had closed. With the support of my fellowship editor, Cobretti Williams, I applied and was admitted to the Creative Writing Workshop at the University of New Orleans, where I am taking graduate classes and teaching a freshman English composition course.

In deciding what to write as a reflection on my time since the fellowship, I started three different essays and hated all of them. I did a lot of cursing, went on a couple of brooding walks and wondered why I agreed to write this in the first place. During the similarly maddening process of designing the syllabus for the first college course I taught, I took a break to write my students a letter. Here is an excerpt:

Before we start this course together, it’s important for me to name something foundational to how I approach teaching it: Writing is hard for everyone. I love writing and I believe that, if I keep practicing, I can become great at it… and I still hate doing it a lot of the time. This is why writing is so important. Almost everything we want is on the other side of making ourselves do things we don’t want to do. When we sit down to write, whether we want to or not, and we keep writing when we hit that initial point where we want to stop, and continue when those moments arise again and again like waves, we are getting vital practice. This skill, ignoring the complacent you, the you that would rather do the thing tomorrow, or tomorrow’s tomorrow, and doing the thing now instead is an act of becoming the you that has the things you want. Like anything else, this becomes easier the more you do it.

This excerpt reminds me that writing is much more difficult than most of the things we do in a world that commodifies ease and comfort, upholds them as desirable and makes us feel we are entitled to them while simultaneously less and less able to tolerate their lack.

There is a common misconception that my students come to me with that manifests most often in the statement “I don’t know what to write.” They think this means they are not ready to begin, because they believe that writing is putting what you already know onto paper. I understand why this misconception exists. So often in life, we only see finished products. The published novel, the final cut, the social media post depicting the outcome and not the process and the struggle. It’s easy to think that everyone else has things figured out, that what you see is how something was from the beginning. This can trick us into believing that if something isn’t good right away, we should abandon it. Drafting insists that we try before we feel sure, finish something even if it is not yet “good.” Revision insists that what we have can be something different, something better, and teaches us to hold multiple things in our heads at the same time. Throughout this process, we gain clarity.

Each time we give or receive feedback and assess whether it moves us closer to or further from our vision, we get better at articulating what we want and closer to achieving it. When teachers and students do this work together and commit to improvement, even when we both have moments of uncertainty about what to do next, we are practicing true collaboration. We both grow. What a way to become more skillful at building the world we want.

It is a strange time to be devoting so much of my life to writing, to be telling students that they should care about writing too. Just this week, an article came out detailing pervasive, undisclosed AI use to grade and give feedback to student writing in some New Orleans schools. A study conducted in May of 2025 showed that 84 percent of high school students used generative AI to complete their school work. I understand intimately the overwhelm of educators and students, and the temporary relief that cognitive offloading with AI can provide.

However, what we lose in the long term by not engaging deeply in the writing process, the practice of giving and receiving feedback, of watching revision unfold, is so much greater than the gains we feel in accepting AI’s “help” in our moments of overwhelm. What world are we building when we delegate the human work of communication through writing to machines? We would do better to engage in a process of re-evaluating our priorities, taking on fewer assignments for longer and working collaboratively as educators and administrators to redesign curricula and systems so that teachers have the capacity to get to know their students through repeated contact with their written work.

Sometimes, it feels like we are already living in a completely different world from the one in which I grew up and was educated. Luckily, these times, despite how often folks like to say they are not, are precedented. In these times, I have been turning to Black women writers like Toni Morrison, Toni Cade Bambara, Audre Lorde and June Jordan for guidance, and they all insist writing only becomes more urgent the more dire the times. In facing what Toni Morrison described in 2004 as “a burgeoning ménage a trois of political interests, corporate interests and military interests” working to “literally annihilate an inhabitable, humane future,” I have been especially steeled by Audre Lorde’s words, “In this way alone we can survive, by taking part in a process of life that is creative and continuing, that is growth.”

In the face of a world that would automate us right out of existence, I intend for us to survive, and so I insist we write.

Looking ahead: Since taking over Xbox earlier this year, Asha Sharma and Matt Booty have hinted at radical changes in the coming weeks to turn Microsoft’s struggling game console business around. New reports indicate that little is off the table, including steps that could lead to a sale of the division.

People familiar with the matter told The Information that Microsoft executives have not ruled out restructuring Xbox as a wholly owned subsidiary or even a joint venture. Although no such plans are currently in place, they remain a possibility.

If doing so would turn Xbox’s fortunes around, Microsoft could reorganize the division into something resembling its other subsidiaries, such as LinkedIn and GitHub. The tech giant could also find a partner to run Xbox as a joint venture or spin the division out. As the news spread, former PlayStation CEO Shuhei Yoshida rather pessimistically predicted that Xbox would “dissolve” into Windows, possibly referencing Microsoft’s plans for the next Xbox console, codenamed Helix, to support PC games.

Asha Sharma has promised a dramatic change of course since becoming the new Xbox CEO in February. So far, that has included included turning away from multiplatform game releases and lowering the cost of Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service.

In a recent memo, Sharma hinted at more big changes on the horizon, which could include significant layoffs to help control costs. Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball also recently floated the idea of using in-game ads to help offset costs. Spending tens of billions of dollars on game studios and content over the past several years has not lifted Xbox console sales, the division’s profitability is falling, and the gaming industry at large currently faces skyrocketing memory costs.

Despite the challenges, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood have given Sharma the green light to increase spending to expedite the development of major franchises such as Halo, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls. While another Xbox titan, Gears of War, is receiving a prequel later this year, Halo, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls have not seen significant new releases in several years.

Microsoft is set to release a remake of the first Halo title next month, but the status of the next installment’s development remains unclear. After Halo Infinite’s disappointing 2021 launch bruised the Xbox Series X/S rollout, developer 343 Industries was reorganized into Halo Studios, and the next entry shifted from an in-house engine to Unreal Engine 5.

Meanwhile, Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls VI is nowhere to be seen eight years after its initial announcement. Since shipping Starfield, which also failed to revive Xbox sales, the studio has shifted to The Elder Scrolls VI, but CEO Todd Howard recently confirmed that it remains years away. The last installment, 2011’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is one of the best-selling games of all time.

Fallout seems even further out – Bethesda does not plan to start production until after finishing The Elder Scrolls VI. However, a remaster of Fallout 3 is rumored to be coming soon. In the meantime, fans have hoped that Microsoft might hand Fallout to Obsidian, which currently employs Fallout creator Tim Cain and others involved with the first two installments. InXile, another Microsoft subsidiary, also has links to the franchise.

Something to look forward to: Microsoft has gradually rolled out its solution to shader compilation stutter since last year. The latest update for the feature, called Advanced Shader Delivery, just took a major step toward general availability. However, Nvidia GPU owners, who represent more than 90% of the desktop PC gaming market, must wait a few more months.

All Windows users with AMD Radeon graphics cards released in the past several years can now use a new feature from Microsoft that virtually eliminates shader compilation in PC games. However, the functionality currently only supports games played through the company’s Xbox app.

Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) reorganizes how games’ shaders are compiled so they can be stored in the cloud and downloaded when installing a title or updating GPU drivers. This eliminates the long loading times that occur when games must compile shaders locally, helping avoid unstable performance during the first launch or after a driver change. Microsoft claims that ASD cuts Forza Horizon 6’s initial load time by up to 95%.

– AMD Radeon (@AMDRadeon) June 12, 2026

ASD debuted on Asus ROG Xbox Ally devices last year, where it supports Avowed, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Control, Farming Simulator 25, Forza Horizon 5, Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, Silent Hill f, and many other titles. In May, Microsoft extended the feature to Xbox Insiders with AMD RDNA 3, RDNA 3.5, and RDNA 4 graphics hardware.

As ASD exits beta, support now extends to RDNA 2 and RDNA 1, covering every Radeon GPU since the RX 5000 series from 2019. Users must update to AMD Adrenalin version 26.6.1 or newer.

Also read: Shader Compilation and Why It Causes Stuttering, Explained

Support for Nvidia RTX hardware arrives later this year, and Intel has also pledged to implement the feature. In the meantime, the beta version of the Nvidia app currently supports a similar function called Auto Shader Compilation. While it does not save users from needing to compile shaders in-game upon initial boot, it can retain those shaders even after driver updates.

However, it remains unclear when or if ASD will support other game launchers, such as Steam, which serves the majority of PC gamers. ASD was likely inspired by the Steam Deck’s ability to download precompiled shaders, owing to its locked hardware configuration.

NASA picked Lunar Outpost to deliver a new crewed rover called Pegasus for the Artemis program. Astronauts will drive it across the lunar south pole starting around 2028. The vehicle brings a clear step up in what crews can accomplish during surface operations. It offers the range, endurance, and flexibility needed to support longer stays and the groundwork for a permanent outpost.

Lunar Outpost won the contract for NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services and got a great deal in the process. They will receive $220 million to develop a flight-ready rover that meets the stringent requirements of a mission aimed at pushing the frontiers. They are not the only ones that received the contract; another company will work with Lunar Outpost to help astronauts make the most of their time at the moon’s south pole. Where the cold is severe, the shadows never end, and the terrain is a true impediment, it will be tough to achieve anything.

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The designers at Lunar Outpost were inspired by a prior concept called Eagle and produced a smaller, lighter version of it. The Pegasus is the end result, and it represents a huge breakthrough. It has a compact design that keeps it under NASA’s weight limit while yet packing all of the punch they need, and two astronauts sit side by side in a low-slung cabin with an unimpeded view of what lies ahead. To top it all off, it’s really easy to get into and out of, even on rough terrain. The design bears homage to the iconic Apollo roving vehicle, but it has been updated with cutting-edge technology and greatly enlarged capabilities.

One of the key things the designers wanted to get right with Pegasus was its range and endurance, and to be honest, the stats are quite impressive. We’re talking up to 900 kilometers on a single set of batteries, with a year of operation following delivery to the surface. Top speed isn’t exactly rocket science (15 kilometers per hour), but traveling any faster on the moon would be disastrous. The surface is loose, with craters and slopes everywhere, and the Pegasus has been engineered to manage it all, thanks to some excellent engineering input from General Motors.

The power comes from exceptionally powerful battery packs based on General Motors’ production electric vehicle technology. They can provide the long-term dependability and fault tolerance required for months of operation in a vacuum, as well as in conditions that would be harsh even on Earth. While GM isn’t the only partner who has contributed; Goodyear donated specialty tires designed for the moon’s unique conditions, and Leidos added some muscle with their systems engineering expertise.

So, how does all of this translate into practice? It indicates that the Pegasus can be driven directly from the seat by an astronaut or navigate autonomously across known terrain utilizing onboard technologies. If it isn’t enough, Earth-based teams can take over the rover in real time if needed. This is the type of versatility that will make all the difference whether doing science or construction on the moon.

Thermal regulation is critical when working at the South Pole. Plus, a system that automatically regulates temperature levels throughout the rover at all times, protecting batteries, electronics, and mechanical components wherever temperatures range from a scorching 250 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface to icy lows of -410 degrees Fahrenheit in those shadowed craters. It does all of this independently of whether the rover is carrying a crew or is merely winging it, allowing astronauts to concentrate on other tasks rather than worrying about it.

It was all developed very systematically, building on past successes. Remember the Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform and Explorer-class rovers that Lunar Outpost once employed? They used their abilities to create a number of full-scale models of the Eagle design, conduct several test simulations, and even subject the crew to human-in-the-loop testing. After that, they scaled back the design to meet the Pegasus project’s mass and volume limits while retaining all performance goals, and the next step is to provide a flight-ready version to NASA by November 2027.

When the Eagle rover lands on the Moon, it will already have a lot on its plate; the crew will be able to use it to look for water ice in permanently shadowed areas, prepare some locations for future base elements, conduct science experiments, transfer equipment, and so on. Pegasus is more than a one-trick pony; it can perform crewed driving, teleoperation, and autonomy all at once, which is highly beneficial when mission needs change on a dime. With livestreaming capability from the lunar surface, anyone can now join in on the fun and get a front-row seat to the action.
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