As part of the strategy, a precursor mission that serves as a stepping stone for human exploration was developed. Five candidates were initially proposed:

• Near Earth object (NEO) Water Extraction: A mission to extract water from a NEO, deliver the water to geostationary transfer orbit, and to repeat the mission at least one more time.
   
• Orbital Greenhouse: A mission to put a greenhouse in low Earth orbit (LEO) to test regenerative life support systems.
   
• Space Hotel: A mission to construct a space hotel in LEO.

• Lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization: A mission to demonstrate either the fabrication of construction materials from lunar regolith or the extraction of propellant from the polar ice.
   
• Lunar Rover Race: A mission to conduct a robotic rover race from the Apollo 17 landing site to the Luna 21 site and back.

Of these five candidates, the Lunar Rover Race was selected for detailed study based upon the criteria of increasing public awareness, the potential economic return, and the demonstration of new technologies.

This race will be modeled after terrestrial events like the Tour de France. A lander will carry ten racing rovers and one media rover to the Apollo 17 starting point. The proposed track is a closed circuit that runs out to the Luna 21 site and loops back to Apollo 17. It is further defined by twelve checkpoints corresponding to natural geological features. At each stage of the race, the media rover will go ahead to the next checkpoint so it can broadcast the arrival of the racers.

The constraints on the rovers are:

• Total mass shall be less than 10 kg.
• Volume shall be less than 300 mm by 600 mm by 500 mm.
• Shall not contain any radioactive or toxic material.
• Shall have a minimum design operational life of 14 Earth days (lunar day constraint).
• Shall carry at least one camera for live video coverage of the race.

This competition will be open to all, including universities, companies, space agencies, and even the military. Each of the five continents will be represented by a team. In addition, there will be five others consisting of the five best runners-up. The race will be managed as a commercial operation with the majority of the funding obtained through commercials, sponsorships and other means.

Coverage on TV and dedicated webcasts will be an integral part of the mission. Other promotional activities may include pop concerts and fashion shows, as well as "crater wear" clothes and consumer products emblazoned with the race logo.

The principal objective of the Lunar Rover Race is to meet the strategy objective of stimulating support for space exploration. Public awareness and educational initiatives will be undertaken before, during, and after the race. Pre-race activities may include a contest for children to decorate the rocket shroud, a "Space Olympics" science quiz for school teams, and lander experiment design competitions for universities. During the race, the public will be invited to visit the ground stations of the teams to "meet the pilots". After the race, any functional rovers may be piloted for a short duration by members of the public selected via a contest.

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