{"id":43539,"date":"2025-12-10T23:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-astronauts-will-have-their-own-droid-when-they-go-back-to-the-moon-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T23:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:27:14","slug":"nasa-astronauts-will-have-their-own-droid-when-they-go-back-to-the-moon-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-astronauts-will-have-their-own-droid-when-they-go-back-to-the-moon-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA astronauts will have their own droid when they go back to the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

B-9 had Will Robinson. Twiki had Buck Rogers. And, of course, C-3PO and R2-D2 had Luke Skywalker. Now, in a scenario straight out of science fiction, MAPP will have whoever NASA names to the crew of the second Artemis mission to land on the moon.<\/p>\n

The space agency has selected Lunar Outpost\u2019s Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform, or MAPP, to become the first robotic rover to operate on the moon alongside astronauts. Although its tasks will be far simpler than those of the robots seen on TV and in the movies, the autonomous four-wheeled MAPP will help scientists learn more about the crew\u2019s surroundings. Science instruments on the rover will characterize the surface plasma and behavior of the dust in the lunar environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Apollo era taught us that the further humanity is from Earth, the more dependent we are on science to protect and sustain human life on other planets,\u201d said Nicky Fox, NASA\u2019s associate administrator for science, in a statement. \u201cBy deploying these\u2026 science instruments on the lunar surface, our proving ground, NASA is leading the world in the creation of humanity\u2019s interplanetary survival guide to ensure the health and safety of our spacecraft and human explorers as we begin our epic journey back to the Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Apollo missions showed us the challenges posed by dust on the lunar surface, and NASA\u2019s Artemis plans to find solutions as a critical step to building a sustainable human presence in space,\u201d said Justin Cyrus, founder and CEO of Lunar Outpost. \u201cThis will be Lunar Outpost\u2019s seventh contracted mission, demonstrating our ability to serve as a platform for multiple mission profiles and provide mobility and robotics to help astronauts conduct research on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danger Gene Cernan, danger<\/h2>\n

NASA\u2019s next mission to launch to the Moon, Artemis II in 2026, will fly four astronauts near the Moon and then return them to Earth on a \u201cshakeout cruise\u201d for the Orion crew spacecraft. That will be followed by Artemis III, targeted for 2028, which will see the first humans return to the lunar surface since the late Gene Cernan, Apollo 17 commander, left the last (to date) boot print on the moon more than 50 years ago this month.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Artemis IV will mark the second lunar landing of the Artemis program and build upon what is learned at the moon\u2019s south pole on Artemis III.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter his voyage to the Moon\u2019s surface during Apollo 17, astronaut Gene Cernan acknowledged the challenge that lunar dust presents to long-term lunar exploration. Moon dust sticks to everything it touches and is very abrasive,\u201d read NASA\u2019s announcement of the Artemis IV science payloads.<\/p>\n

\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rendering of Lunar Outpost\u2019s MAPP lunar rover with its Artemis IV DUSTER science instruments, including the Electrostatic Dust Analyzer (EDA) and Relaxation SOunder and differentiaL VoltagE (RESOLVE).<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n LASP\/CU Boulder\/Lunar Outpost<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

To that end, the solar-powered MAPP will support DUSTER (DUst and plaSma environmenT survEyoR), a two-part investigation from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The autonomous rover\u2019s equipment will include the Electrostatic Dust Analyzer (EDA), which will measure the charge, velocity, size, and flux of dust particles lofted from the lunar surface, and the RElaxation SOunder and differentiaL VoltagE (RESOLVE) instrument, which will characterize the average electron density above the lunar surface using plasma sounding.<\/p>\n

The University of Central Florida and University of California, Berkeley, have joined with LASP to interpret measurements taken by DUSTER. The former will look at the dust ejecta generated during the Human Landing System (HLS, or lunar lander) liftoff from the Moon, while the latter will analyze upstream plasma conditions.<\/p>\n

Lunar dust attaches to almost everything it comes into contact with, posing a risk to equipment and spacesuits. It can also obstruct solar panels, reducing their ability to generate electricity and cause thermal radiators to overheat. The dust can also endanger astronauts\u2019 health if inhaled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to develop a complete picture of the dust and plasma environment at the lunar south pole and how it varies over time and location to ensure astronaut safety and the operation of exploration equipment,\u201d said Xu Wang, senior researcher at LASP and principal investigator of DUSTER, in a University of Colorado statement. \u201cBy studying this environment, we gain crucial insights that will guide mitigation strategies and methods to enable long-term, sustained human exploration on the Moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Lunar Voyage 5<\/h2>\n

MAPP, which looks more like a mouse droid than a protocol or astromech unit, will not be new to the moon when it arrives on the surface with the Artemis IV astronauts. If all goes to plan, it will be Lunar Outpost\u2019s third wheeled platform to reach the moon.<\/p>\n

The Colorado-based company\u2019s first MAPP mission, dubbed \u201cLunar Voyage 1,\u201d arrived on the moon in March of this year but was trapped in its \u201cgarage\u201d when its ride to the surface, a commercial uncrewed moon lander, toppled over upon its touchdown. Despite being unable to move, Lunar Outpost said the LV1 MAPP was able to collect data from the lunar surface and in transit, as well as confirm that the rover was ready to drive.<\/p>\n

\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Lunar Outpost\u2019s Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform prior to launching to the moon on Lunar Voyage 1.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Intuitive Machines<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The Lunar Voyage 2 (LV2) MAPP is targeted for launch on Intuitive Machines\u2019 IM-3 mission in 2026 as part of NASA\u2019s Commercial Lunar Services Program (CLPS). The LV3 rover is booked for a commercial mission, followed by \u201cRoo-ver\u201d by the end of the decade as the Australian Space Agency\u2019s first flagship mission and its contribution to NASA\u2019s Artemis program.<\/p>\n

Lunar Outpost earlier deployed an environmental monitoring system based on the life support system developed for NASA\u2019s Gateway lunar orbit platform, and built MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment), which successfully demonstrated producing oxygen 16 times on the Red Planet while mounted to NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover.<\/p>\n

MAPP has also been celebrated in pop culture, extending its similarities with the sci-fi robots that preceded it. In August, Lego and Lunar Outpost partnered on the release of the LegoTechnic Lunar Outpost Moon Rover Space Vehicle, a toy building block set that constructed three rovers, including a miniature MAPP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

B-9 had Will Robinson. Twiki had Buck Rogers. And, of course, C-3PO and R2-D2 had Luke Skywalker. Now, in a scenario straight out of science fiction, MAPP will have whoever NASA names to the crew of the second Artemis mission to land on the moon. The space agency has selected Lunar Outpost\u2019s Mobile Autonomous Prospecting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}