A lunar rover or Moon rover is a

space exploration Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by uncrewed robo ...

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), ...

designed to move across the surface of the Moon. The Apollo Program's

Lunar Roving Vehicle The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is a battery-powered four-wheeled rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program ( 15, 16, and 17) during 1971 and 1972. It is popularly called the Moon buggy, a play on the ...

was driven on the Moon by members of three American crews,

Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the United States' Apollo program and the fourth to land on the Moon. It was the first J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greater focus on science than ear ...

, 16, and 17. Other rovers have been partially or fully

autonomous robot An autonomous robot is a robot that acts without recourse to human control. The first autonomous robots environment were known as Elmer and Elsie, which were constructed in the late 1940s by W. Grey Walter. They were the first robots in history ...

s, such as the Soviet Union's

Lunokhod Lunokhod ( rus, Луноход, p=lʊnɐˈxot, "Moonwalker") was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. Lunokhod 1 was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on an extraterrestrial ...

s and the Chinese '' Yutus''. Three countries have had operating rovers on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States and China. An Indian mission failed while Japan and Greece currently have planned missions.

Past missions

Lunokhod 1

Lunokhod 1 ''Lunokhod 1'' ( Russian: Луноход-1 ("Moonwalker 1"), also known as Аппарат 8ЕЛ № 203 ("Device 8EL No. 203")) was the first of two robotic lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of its Lunokhod program. The ...

(Луноход) was the first of two polycrystalline-panel-powered robotic lunar rovers landed on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

as part of its Lunokhod program after a previous unsuccessful attempt of a launch probe with Lunokhod 0 (No.201) in 1969. The spacecraft which carried Lunokhod 1 was named Luna 17. The spacecraft soft-landed on the Moon in the Sea of Rains on November 1970. Lunokhod was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another

celestial body An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are often us ...

. Having worked for 11 months, Lunokhod 1 held the durability record for space rovers for more than 1 year, until a new record was set by the Mars Exploration Rovers.

Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle

The

(LRV) was a battery-powered four-wheeled

rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US * ...

used on the Moon during the last three missions of the American Apollo program ( 15, 16, and 17) during 1971 and 1972. The LRV could carry one or two

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

s, their equipment, and lunar samples. Georg von Tiesenhausen is credited with submitting the original design, before it was sent to

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

for implementation.

Lunokhod 2

Lunokhod 2 ''Lunokhod 2'' (russian: Луноход-2 ("Moonwalker 2"), also known as Аппарат 8ЕЛ № 204 ("Device 8EL No. 204")) was the second of two unmanned lunar rovers that landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of the Lunokhod pro ...

was the second and a monocrystalline-panel-powered of two unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of the Lunokhod program. The Luna 21 spacecraft landed on the Moon and deployed the second Soviet lunar rover Lunokhod 2 in January 1973. The objectives of the mission were to collect images of the lunar surface, examine ambient light levels to determine the feasibility of astronomical observations from the Moon, perform laser ranging experiments, observe solar X-rays, measure local magnetic fields, and study the soil mechanics of the lunar surface material. Lunokhod 2 was intended to be followed by Lunokhod 3 (No.205) in 1977 but the mission was cancelled.

''Yutu''

'' Yutu'' is a Chinese lunar rover which launched on 1 December 2013 and landed on 14 December 2013 as part of the

Chang'e 3 Chang'e 3 (; ) is a robotic lunar exploration mission operated by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), incorporating a robotic lander and China's first lunar rover. It was launched in December 2013 as part of the second phase of t ...

mission. It is China's first lunar rover, part of the second phase of the

Chinese Lunar Exploration Program The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP; ), also known as the Chang'e Project () after the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e, is an ongoing series of robotic Moon missions by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The program incorpor ...

undertaken by

China National Space Administration China National Space Administration (CNSA; ) is the government agency of the People's Republic of China that is responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation, including organizing or leading foreign exchanges ...

(CNSA). The lunar rover is called ''Yutu'', or ''Jade Rabbit'', a name selected in an online poll. The rover encountered operational difficulties after the first 14-day lunar night, and was unable to move after the end of the second lunar night, finally on August 3, 2016 it officially stopped sending data and doing its operations.

''Pragyan'' (Chandrayaan-2 rover)

Chandrayaan-2 was the second lunar mission by India, consisting of a lunar orbiter, a lander named ''Vikram'', and a rover named ''Pragyan''. The rover weighing 27 kg, had six wheels and was to be operated on

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

. Launched on 22 July 2019, the mission entered lunar orbit on August 20. ''Pragyan'' was destroyed along with its lander, ''Vikram'', when it crash-landed on the Moon on 6 September 2019 and never got the chance to deploy.Vikram lander located on lunar surface, wasn't a soft landing: Isro.
''Times of India''. 8 September 2019.

Current missions

''Yutu-2''

The

Chang'e 4 Chang'e 4 (; ) is a robotic spacecraft mission, part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. China achieved humanity's first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, on 3 January 2019. A communication relay satellit ...

Chinese mission launched 7 December 2018, and landed and deployed the ''

Yutu-2 ''Yutu-2'' is the robotic lunar rover component of CNSA's Chang'e 4 mission to the Moon, launched on 7 December 2018 18:23 UTC, it entered lunar orbit on 12 December 2018 before making the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 J ...

'' rover on the

far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, opposite to the near side, because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. Compared to the near side, the far side's terrain is rugged, with a multitu ...

on 3 January 2019. It is the first rover to operate on the Moon's far side. In December 2019, ''Yutu 2'' broke the lunar longevity record, previously held by the Soviet Union's ''

'' rover, which operated on the lunar surface for eleven lunar days (321 Earth days) and traversed a total distance of . In February 2020, Chinese astronomers reported, for the first time, a high-resolution image of a lunar ejecta sequence, and, as well, direct analysis of its internal architecture. These were based on observations made by the Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) on board the ''Yutu-2'' rover while studying the

Planned missions

Asagumo

The Asagumo rover weighs 1.3 kg and, instead of wheels, is equipped with four legs to walk the Moon's surface to collect the data from

Lidar Lidar (, also LIDAR, or LiDAR; sometimes LADAR) is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It can also be ...

and other equipment. The robot will eventually be able to explore the " Lunar lava tubes". The rover will be delivered to the lunar surface on Astrobotic's Peregrine lander in 2022.

Audi Lunar quattro

Audi Lunar Quattro is a small lunar rover created by a team of engineers from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, PTScientists, with the support of Audi and a number of scientists and companies from different countries.

Chandrayaan-3 Rover

The Chandrayaan-3 Rover will be operated by the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman o ...

. It will be launched in 2023 on the Chandrayaan-3 lander, which is

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

's second attempt to soft land a rover and a lander on the

Colmena

Colmena are nine microrovers created by

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. They will be launched in 2021 on Astrobotics Peregrine lander.

Iris

Iris is a lunar nanorover developed by Carnegie Mellon University for 2022 mission on Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander. Iris is battery-powered, 2kg, four wheel drive, skid-steered, and teleoperated. CMU is the world's first university, and the first American entity, to develop and launch a lunar rover.

Lunar Excursion Vehicle (Transformable Lunar Robot)

Takara Tomy,

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

and Doshisha University are making a rover to be launched onboard Ispace's lander called Hakuto-R. It will be launched in 2022.

MoonRanger

MoonRanger will explore the South Pole of the Moon in 2023, using its Neutron Spectrometer System to map lunar ice. The rover is autonomous, 18kg, four wheel drive, skid-steered, and solar-powered. MoonRanger is being developed by

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

under a NASA subcontract via

Astrobotic Technology Astrobotic Technology is an American privately held company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions. It was founded in 2007 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates with the goal of ...

Rashid

Rashid is a planned lunar rover built by MBRSC to be launched onboard Ispace's lander called Hakuto-R. The rover is planned to be launched in November 2022. It will be equipped with two high-resolution cameras, a microscopic camera to capture small details, and a thermal imaging camera. The rover will also carry a

Langmuir probe A Langmuir probe is a device used to determine the electron temperature, electron density, and electric potential of a plasma. It works by inserting one or more electrodes into a plasma, with a constant or time-varying electric potential between ...

, designed to study the moon's plasma and will attempt to explain why moon dust is so sticky. The rover will study the lunar surface, mobility on the moon’s surface and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles.

SLIM

The SLIM team assessed in the past the inclusion of a small

in this mission. A preliminary concept considered a rover with two inflatable wheels that would enter—or drop into—the

lava tube A lava tube, or pyroduct, is a natural conduit formed by flowing lava from a volcanic vent that moves beneath the hardened surface of a lava flow. If lava in the tube empties, it will leave a cave. Formation A lava tube is a type of lava ...

while deploying miniature communication relay devices along the traverse. Other concepts suggested developing a miniature

without wheels but able to "hop" along.

Spacebit Mission Two

Spacebit Mission Two will be launched in 2022 on Intuitive Machines's Nova-C lander. It will consist of one wheeled rover and four Asagumo rovers.

Unnamed Canadian lunar rover

A rover developed by Canadensys Aerospace of Bolton, Ont. for the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 202 ...

is scheduled to be launched in 2026. The 30-kilogram rover will search the Moon's southern polar regions for signs of water ice. It will carry five scientific instruments designed in Canada and one NASA-designed instrument. The rover will carry out its mission in areas of the moon that have never been exposed before to direct sunlight. It will also survive lunar nights that can last as long as 14 days and drop to less than -200 Celsius (-328 Fahrenheit). Gordon Osinski, a planetary scientist at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

, is the principal investigator lead on the project''.''

Unity

Unity is a rover made by Team AngelicvM in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. It was part of GLXP until they decided to have no winner for GLXP. It will be launched in 2022 on Astrobotic's Peregrine lander.

VIPER

NASA's VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) will explore the south polar region of the Moon for water ice. The mission plan is to travel several miles over 100 days and employ a 1-meter drill to obtain samples for its onboard analyzers. The rover will be delivered to the lunar surface in November 2024.

Yaoki

Yaoki is a moon rover created by Dymon. It will be launched in 2022 on Astrobotic's Peregrine lander. Yaoki will be the first lunar rover to be made and operated in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

Proposed missions

ATHLETE

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

's plans for future Moon missions call for rovers that have a far longer range than the Apollo rovers. The

All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-dev ...

(ATHLETE) is a six-legged robotic lunar rover test-bed under development by the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, La Cañada Flintridge, California ...

(JPL). ATHLETE is a testbed for systems and is designed for use on the

. The system is in development along with

's Johnson and Ames Centers,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

and

. ATHLETE is designed, for maximum efficiency, to be able to both roll and walk over a wide range of terrains.

Deep Space Systems

On 29 November 2018, Deep Space Systems was included in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program by NASA, which makes it eligible to bid on delivering science and technology payloads to the Moon, worth $2.6 billion in contracts over 10 years. Deep Space Systems is now considered a "main contractor" for

's payload program, and can sub-contract projects to other companies of their choice. According to NASA, Deep Space Systems will be proposing a small commercial lunar rover, to carry science payloads, in addition of their design and development services to the program.

HERACLES

HERACLES Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

is a sample return mission by the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

, and

. The rover is made by the Canadian Space Agency and is proposed to be launched in 2028.

Lunar Cruiser

Lunar Cruiser is a vehicle being developed by

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

with the

to explore the surface of the

. The name is based on the

Toyota Land Cruiser The (also sometimes spelled as LandCruiser) is a series of four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. It is Toyota's longest running series of models. , the sales of the Land Cruiser totalled more than ...

. The vehicle is scheduled to be used in the late 2020s. The vehicle would include a

robotic arm A robotic arm is a type of mechanical arm, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm; the arm may be the sum total of the mechanism or may be part of a more complex robot. The links of such a manipulator are connected by join ...

for various inspection and maintenance tasks which could be changed for scooping, lifting and sweeping.

Luna-Grunt rover

Luna-Grunt rover (or Luna-28) is a proposed Russian lunar rover.

Lunar Polar Exploration Mission rover

The Lunar Polar Exploration Mission is a robotic lunar mission concept by

and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that would send a lunar rover and lander to explore the south pole region of the Moon in 2024. The Japanese agency is likely to provide the under-development H3 launch vehicle and the rover, while the Indian agency would be responsible for the lander.

Planetoid Mines

Planetoid Mines will launch xTRAC surface excavator in 2025. xTRAC will be deployed for lunar mining in South Pole and PSR craters.

''Scarab''

'' Scarab'' is a new generation lunar rover designed to assist astronauts, take rock and mineral samples, and explore the lunar surface. It is being developed by the Robotics Institute of

, supported by

Space Exploration Vehicle

The SEV is a proposed successor to the original

from the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

missions. It combines a living module, as it has a pressurized cabin containing a small bathroom and space for 2 astronauts (4 in case of emergency), and a small truck.

Canceled

Lunokhod 3

Lunokhod 3 was built for a

Moon landing A Moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2, on 13 September 1959. The United S ...

in 1977 as Luna 25 but never flew to the Moon due to lack of launchers and funding. It remains at the NPO Lavochkin museum

Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle 4, 5 and 6

They would have been for Apollo 18, 19 and 20.

Resource Prospector

Resource Prospector is a cancelled mission concept by NASA of a rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the Moon. The rover was to attempt to detect and map the location of volatiles such as hydrogen, oxygen and lunar water which could foster more affordable and sustainable human exploration to the Moon, Mars, and other Solar System bodies The mission concept was still in its pre-formulation stage when it was scrapped in April 2018. The Resource Prospector mission was proposed to be launched in 2022. Its science instruments will be flown on several commercial lander missions contracted with

's new

Commercial Lunar Payload Services Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to contract transportation services able to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon's south polar region mostly with the goals of scouting for lunar resources, testing in sit ...

program.

References

External links

* {{Moon spacecraft Landers (spacecraft) Missions to the Moon