NASA is considering sending a spare Mars rover to the moon to renew preparations for a lunar base

NASA is considering reengineering an upgraded version of its nuclear-powered Mars rovers to find a different destination: the moon’s south side.

The plan calls for converting a test rover, currently housed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, into a lunar explorer named PROMISE (“Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping and In-Situ Exploration”).

During an update on the space agency’s long-standing plan to build a lunar base, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman emphasized that the PROMISE mission is still being defined, but added that “there’s very little that can stop us from using those missions.”

NASA is already planning to send a rover called VIPER (“Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover”) to the moon by the end of next year. But Carlos García-Galán, NASA’s program manager for the Moon Base effort, said PROMISE will bring capabilities that VIPER lacks. For example, PROMISE’s plutonium power source makes that rover well-suited for exploring shadowy lunar craters thought to contain valuable water ice.

“VIPER uses solar energy, so we are delayed in the place we put it, how much light it will get, the time of year, where it can go,” explained García-Galán. “It’s very unlikely that it would go into some of these permanently shadowed regions and stay there — and then, based on the night of the moon, it would have a limited lifespan.”

In contrast, the nuclear-powered Curiosity rover is still going strong 14 years after landing on Mars, and the Perseverance rover is still going strong after five years of operation.

Today’s Moon Base Update provided a status report on several aspects of NASA’s plans to build a permanent base on the moon in the 2030s. Among the highlights:

• The robotic moon lander built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin venture “looks like it’s done,” García-Galán said. The Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, named Endurance, was supposed to launch this year on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, although the recent explosion of the New Glenn has raised questions about the timeline. Isaacman said launching the New Glenn remains “Plan A” for the Blue Moon mission. If the launch goes past mid-2027, NASA will look at other options, García-Galán said.
• Two other operations for the first phase of the Moon Base program are also underway. Astrobotic’s Griffin 1 lunar lander looks set to launch this year, while Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander “looks pretty good,” García-Galán said.
• NASA has announced that it will fund four more lunar robotic applications during Phase 1 of the Moon Base program, which runs until 2029. Astrobotic was awarded $297.9 million in two installments. NASA will award $144.2 million to Firefly Aerospace and $148.3 million to Precision Missions for one delivery each. Each lander will carry cameras to document the effects of rocket explosions on the lunar soil, post bright spot markers and monitor the moon’s radiation environment. Additional downloads can be added to individual devices.
• Isaacman pressed García-Galán to promise that one of the robot players would carry the ball to the moon if the US won the World Cup. “We will definitely find space,” García-Galán replied. Isaacman said that would serve as “a little motivation” for the American team. “We’re going to face Alan Shepard and a golf game on the moon,” the director told García-Galán. “We will get the ball there, I don’t know which player it will end up with.