NASA will build a nuclear-powered Moon rover from Mars rover spares; two of its instruments come from Ames
The rover, called PROMISE, is set to launch in late 2028 and hunt for ice in the dark craters near the Moon's South Pole. NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley leads two of its instruments.
NASA plans to send a nuclear-powered rover to hunt for ice at the Moon's South Pole, the agency announced in a Nov. 7 news release. The rover, PROMISE, will be built mostly from spares and test models made for the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers.
The six-wheeled, SUV-size rover is set to launch in late 2028 for an 18-month mission run by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A spare nuclear generator turns heat from decaying plutonium-238 into electricity, so the rover can work where solar panels can't.
It will explore craters that never see sunlight. The mission page says they may hold ice and can reach minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit, about 60 degrees above the coldest temperature possible. A drill will dig about 3 feet down. The Moon is about 238,855 miles away, or 1.3 light-seconds.
The Silicon Valley part
NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley leads two of the instruments: an infrared spectrometer that checks the soil for ice, and a neutron spectrometer, built by Lockheed Martin, that finds buried water by sensing hydrogen.
Blue Origin will land the rover under a $94 million contract with a $140 million option. NASA did not give the rover's own cost.
Source: NASA news release, "NASA Awards Moon Base Transportation, Technology, Science Projects" (Nov. 7, 2026); NASA, "PROMISE" mission page; NASA Science, "Moon Facts" and "Radioisotope Power Systems". Drafted by AI for San Jose using NASA source material. NASA did not write or review this story.