NASA Lunar Rovers: How VIPER and the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Will Build the Moon Base

As NASA works to build a lunar base, crew-capable and robotic lunar rovers will play a critical role in the early stages of development. Their missions will include technology demonstrations, astronaut transport, topographic mapping, scientific research, and resource exploration. Data from these early missions will inform the mobility systems and infrastructure needed for astronauts to live and operate on the Moon.

NASA’s latest Moon base video update offers a close look at advances in commercial lunar terrain vehicles and robotic rovers. These systems are designed to provide the ground mobility needed to build humanity’s first lunar outpost.

Lunar rovers are central to NASA’s Moon base strategy

“The Lunar Rover is the centerpiece of our ground mobility strategy,” said Robert Pickle, director of the Office of Ground Mobility within the agency’s Lunar Base Program. “Their performance will lay the foundation for the mobility systems that will define the next era of exploration and ultimately determine how effectively we can build, operate and scale the infrastructure needed for long-term exploration.”

NASA’s VIPER rover will search for lunar water

NASA’s VIPER rover, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, will travel to the Moon’s south polar region in 2027. The rover will venture into permanently shadowed craters to search for water and other valuable resources essential for sustainable lunar exploration.

After being delivered to the lunar surface by the Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, VIPER will travel more than 18 miles (30 kilometers). It will collect information about the thermal, lighting, and topographic conditions of the Moon’s south polar region.

The data could provide insight into the origin and distribution of water on the Moon. It could also help determine how lunar resources may be used to support future lunar bases and improve scientists’ understanding of the histories of the Moon and Earth, as well as the processes that helped shape the conditions for life.

VIPER mission operations will take place at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, where the team is simulating possible scenarios for the rover’s lunar mission.

The VIPER rover is fully assembled at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and is undergoing final tests before traveling to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch to the Moon.

NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle will map the lunar south pole

To improve ground mobility on the Moon, NASA has issued a mission order to Astrolab and Lunar Outpost to build the first stage of a crew-capable lunar rover called the Lunar Terrain Vehicle, or LTV. The vehicle is planned for delivery to the lunar surface before a crewed Artemis mission.

NASA has awarded Blue Origin a mission order to deliver the LTV to the Moon’s south pole region by 2028 through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative.

The LTV will be remotely operated from Earth and travel up to 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) per day. It will map the lunar surface so scientists can create high-resolution maps of the area before crews arrive on future missions.

The rover will also collect information about operating in the Moon’s extreme environment, including lighting, navigation, energy management, and performance while moving in and out of permanently shadowed areas. These regions can reach temperatures as low as minus 334 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 203 degrees Celsius).

The results will help inform lunar base development and improve the design and capabilities of future mobility systems, hardware, and infrastructure.

During Artemis missions, astronauts will drive the LTV across the geologically diverse lunar south polar region and collect geological samples for scientists to study on Earth. The LTV will support up to three moonwalks per Artemis mission, transport up to 176 pounds (80 kilograms) of lunar samples and tools, and travel up to 6 miles (10 kilometers) on a single battery charge.

Astrolab’s CLV-1 and FLIP rovers

Astrolab’s Manned Lunar Reconnaissance Vehicle-1, or CLV-1, is based on the company’s FLEX, or Flexible Logistics and Exploration Vehicle, LTV architecture.

Astrolab recently delivered a CLV-1 mockup to Axiom Space. NASA astronauts wore mock-ups of the Artemis lunar spacesuit and evaluated the lunar rover’s design, crew compartment, and display interface.

Before CLV-1 reaches the Moon, Astrolab plans to send its first robotic rover, FLIP, or FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform, to the lunar surface as a payload on Voyager Technologies’ Griffin Mission 1. The mission is scheduled to launch in late 2026.

FLIP will explore the lunar Antarctic environment and serve as a test bed for CLV-1’s critical subsystems, including similar tires, batteries, radios, and cameras.

In the coming weeks, Astrolab engineers will travel to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to use the center’s simulated lunar operations laboratory. There, they will evaluate how CLV-1’s flexible airless wheels perform on a simulated lunar surface.

Lunar Outpost advances its Pegasus LTV

Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus crewed LTV is a lighter, mission-ready evolution of the company’s Eagle LTV. Before receiving the award, Lunar Outpost built two Pegasus mockups and recently delivered a third static mockup to NASA’s Johnson Space Center for human testing.

During the test, NASA astronauts wore pressurized spacesuits and evaluated the rover’s design, ease of use, and crew comfort.

In 2025, Lunar Outpost’s robotic MAPP rover, or Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform, operated at the Moon’s south pole. MAPP served as a test bed for collecting data and achieving flight-proven readiness for key hardware and software subsystems.

These subsystems included an automatic temperature control system, a navigation camera, and mission control software used to remotely operate Pegasus. With a second MAPP rover scheduled to launch in early 2027, Lunar Outpost is advancing technologies that can be transferred directly to Pegasus.

In the coming weeks, a Lunar Outpost team will also travel to NASA Glenn to test and evaluate the soil mechanics, traction, and mobility of Pegasus’ spring-mesh tires.

When will NASA’s lunar terrain vehicles be ready?

In the coming months, Astrolab and Lunar Outpost plan to test driveable LTV mockups with NASA crews. The tests will evaluate how the vehicles drive and perform in a simulated lunar environment.

Lunar Outpost plans to complete its preliminary design review for the LTV in October, while Astrolab plans to complete its preliminary design review by the end of December. The companies plan to deliver flight-ready hardware to NASA in late 2027.

Lunar rovers will support Artemis and future Mars missions

As part of what NASA describes as a golden age of innovation and exploration, Artemis astronauts will undertake increasingly difficult missions near the Moon’s south pole. The missions will expand lunar exploration while advancing scientific discovery and creating potential economic benefits.

NASA plans to establish a permanent human presence on the lunar surface and use the Moon as a foundation for future exploration, including NASA’s first crewed mission to Mars.