* Lunar Outpost, other firms vying for NASA moon rover

contract

* Company's Pegasus rover designed to sate NASA push for

speed

* $30 million Series B round to help fund Pegasus

development

By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - U.S. startup Lunar Outpost

closed a $30 million funding round this week that will speed

development of a new moon rover, its CEO said, as investor

interest in lunar ventures grows.

The company's Series B funding, launched a month ago, was

led by Industrious Ventures. Type One Ventures, Eniac Ventures

and Promus Ventures also participated.

Denver-based Lunar Outpost has been developing a Lunar

Terrain Vehicle named Eagle. It is competing with two other

startups - Astrolab and Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ) - to become

the primary ride for NASA astronauts on the lunar surface during

Artemis missions. Future contracts under the NASA program could

be worth billions of dollars.

But NASA administrator Jared Isaacman jolted the agency with

changes intended to accelerate the development of a long-term

human presence on the lunar surface. NASA in March asked the

companies for simpler rover designs that could be deployed more

quickly, and it is expected to pick a design this month.

Lunar Outpost's answer to NASA's need for speed is a smaller

rover named Pegasus, which it revealed on Thursday.

The $30 million in fresh capital will help speed up Pegasus'

development with a launch targeted in 2027. The bigger Eagle

rover, which was targeting a 2028 launch, would be pushed to a

later phase with its launch around 2030.

"In response to NASA saying, 'Hey, we want to get this done

and we want to get it done now,' we decided to open a quick

fundraise," CEO Justin Cyrus told Reuters. He said the funding

round was oversubscribed, drawing interest worth $90 million but

closing at $30 million for now to stay focused on speeding up

its lunar efforts.

"One thing that's been a constraint so far for companies

looking to operate in cislunar space has been capital. That no

longer exists," Cyrus said, attributing the investor interest to

NASA's push for more moon missions. Cislunar refers to the space

between the Earth and the moon.

The company declined to provide its valuation.

NASA's revised plan for Artemis, which was created during

President Donald Trump's first term, involves putting

infrastructure, centered on a moon base, and vehicles on the

moon's surface. The agency will send regular astronaut missions

in a decade-long strategy costing more than $30 billion.

NASA's second Artemis mission launched in April, sending

four astronauts around the moon and back as one of a few

precursor missions to the first crewed moon landing since 1972.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and

Muralikumar Anantharaman)