NASA may want to send a rover originally developed for Mars exploration to the moon (archive image).Image: keystone
Jul 1, 2026, 4:09 amJul 1, 2026, 4:09 am
After the successful “Artemis 2” mission, the US space agency NASA is continuing to work on new lunar plans. It may want to send a rover originally developed for Mars exploration to the moon.
This is a “development version” of the unmanned Mars rovers “Perseverance” and “Curiosity” named “Promise,” NASA announced at a press conference. However, the plans have not yet been finalized.
Four more unmanned missions to the moon have already been commissioned, it said. The US companies Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines were selected. They are supposed to bring numerous scientific instruments to the moon. NASA had previously announced that three unmanned missions to the moon would be launched this year alone. From around the early 2030s, a moon station should be permanently inhabitable by humans.
Isaacman completely overturned lunar plans
NASA boss Jared Isaacman overturned the agency’s lunar plans just a few months ago and announced the plan for a permanent human presence on the Earth’s satellite. The background is also the global competition in space. There has been a new race by spacefaring nations to the moon for years. The USA’s biggest competitor is China, which has the goal of putting people on the moon by 2030. Russia also plans to do so, but is facing delays due to economic difficulties.
In April, NASA’s “Artemis 2” mission brought people close to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen launched from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida and then flew around the moon before returning to Earth and landing in the Pacific near San Diego. During their flight, they traveled further from Earth than any human had ever done before. (sda/dpa)