{"id":46486,"date":"2026-07-01T00:52:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-considers-sending-a-spare-mars-rover-to-the-moon-to-rev-up-preparations-for-lunar-base\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T00:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:52:25","slug":"nasa-considers-sending-a-spare-mars-rover-to-the-moon-to-rev-up-preparations-for-lunar-base","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-considers-sending-a-spare-mars-rover-to-the-moon-to-rev-up-preparations-for-lunar-base\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA considers sending a spare Mars rover to the moon to rev up preparations for lunar base"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1260\" height=\"709\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260630-promise-1260x709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-936092\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260630-promise-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260630-promise-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260630-promise-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260630-promise.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1260px) 100vw, 1260px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">An engineering development version of the NASA rovers currently operating on Mars takes a spin at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. (NASA via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NASA is considering repurposing an engineering development version of the nuclear-powered Mars rovers for a different destination: the moon\u2019s south polar region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The plan calls for turning the test rover, which is currently sitting at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, into a lunar explorer named PROMISE (\u201cPolar Rover for Observation, Mapping and In-Situ Exploration\u201d). <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During an update on the space agency\u2019s long-range plan to build a moon base, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stressed that the PROMISE mission was still being defined, but added that \u201cthere\u2019s very little that would hold us back from making use of that hardware.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NASA is already planning to send a rover called VIPER (\u201cVolatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover\u201d) to the moon by the end of next year. But Carlos Garc\u00eda-Gal\u00e1n, NASA\u2019s program manager for the Moon Base effort, said PROMISE would bring some capabilities that VIPER lacks. For example, PROMISE\u2019s plutonium power source makes that rover more suited for exploring permanently shadowed lunar craters that are thought to contain valuable water ice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVIPER uses solar power, so we\u2019re constrained to the terrain that we put it on, how much illumination that\u2019s going to get, the time of year, where it can go,\u201d Garc\u00eda-Gal\u00e1n explained. \u201cIt could certainly not potentially go into some of these permanently shadowed regions and stay deep in there \u2014 and then, based on the lunar nights, it will have a lifespan that\u2019s limited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In contrast, the nuclear-powered Curiosity rover is still going strong 14 years after landing on Mars, and the Perseverance rover is still persevering after five years of operation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today\u2019s Moon Base update provided a status report on several aspects of NASA\u2019s plans to build a permanent base on the moon in the 2030s. Among the highlights:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A robotic lunar lander that\u2019s being built by Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture \u201clooks like it\u2019s almost done,\u201d Garc\u00eda-Gal\u00e1n said. The Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, dubbed Endurance, had been due for launch this year on Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket, though a recent New Glenn explosion raised questions about the timeline. Isaacman said launching New Glenn was still \u201cPlan A\u201d for the Blue Moon mission. If the launch slips past mid-2027, NASA will look at other options, Garc\u00eda-Gal\u00e1n said.<\/li>\n<li>Two other missions for the first phase of the Moon Base program are also progressing. Astrobotic\u2019s Griffin 1 lunar lander appears on track for launch this year, while Intuitive Machines\u2019 Nova-C lander \u201cis looking pretty good,\u201d Garc\u00eda-Gal\u00e1n said.<\/li>\n<li>NASA announced that it would fund four more robotic lunar lander missions during Phase 1 of the Moon Base program, which runs through 2029. Astrobotic has been awarded $297.9 million for two deliveries. NASA will give $144.2 million to Firefly Aerospace and $148.3 million to Intuitive Machines for one delivery each. Each lander will carry cameras to document the effects of rocket blasts on lunar soil, deposit reflective location markers and monitor the lunar radiation environment. Other payloads could be added to each mission.<\/li>\n<li>Isaacman pressed Garc\u00eda-Gal\u00e1n to promise that one of the robotic landers would carry a soccer ball to the moon if the U.S. wins the World Cup. \u201cWe will absolutely find a space,\u201d Garc\u00eda-Gal\u00e1n replied. Isaacman said that would serve as \u201ca little bit of motivation\u201d for the U.S. team. \u201cWe\u2019re going to one-up Alan Shepard and the golf game on the lunar surface,\u201d the administrator told Garc\u00eda-Gal\u00e1n. \u201cWe\u2019re going to get the soccer ball there. I don\u2019t know which lander it\u2019ll wind up going on. I\u2019ll leave that to you guys to handle the payloading.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An engineering development version of the NASA rovers currently operating on Mars takes a spin at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. (NASA via YouTube) NASA is considering repurposing an engineering development version of the nuclear-powered Mars rovers for a different destination: the moon\u2019s south polar region. The plan calls for turning the test rover, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[1508,2043,367,625,190,9917],"class_list":["post-46486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-moon","tag-lunar-lander","tag-mars","tag-moon","tag-nasa","tag-promise-rover"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46486"}],"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=46486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}