List of rovers on extraterrestrial bodies
A rover is a planetary surface exploration vehicle designed to move over the rough surface of a planet or other celestial body. Rovers are used to explore, collect information, and take samples of the surface. This is a list of all rovers on extraterrestrial bodies in the Solar System. Since 1970, there have been seven lunar rovers, seven Mars rovers, and three asteroid rovers that have successfully landed and explored these extraterrestrial surfaces. In addition, a small helicopter on Mars, Ingenuity, continues to periodically fly.
| Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Coordinates | Operational time | Distance travelled | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luna 17 | Lunokhod 1 |  USSR
|
17 November 1970 | 38°14′16″N 35°00′06″W / 38.2378°N 35.0017°W | 322 days | 10.5 km (6.5 mi) | Successful |
| First rover on an extraterrestrial body. | |||||||
| Luna 21 | Lunokhod 2 | USSR
|
15 January 1971 | 25°51′N 30°27′E / 25.85°N 30.45°E | 236 days | 39 km (24 mi) | Successful |
| Farthest distance traveled on the Moon. | |||||||
| Chang'e 3 | Yutu |  CNSA
|
14 December 2013 | 44°07′17″N 19°30′42″W / 44.1214°N 19.5116°W | 42 days (mobile) 973 days (total) |
114.8 m (377 ft) | Successful |
| First Chinese extraterrestrial rover and first lunar rover in over 40 years. | |||||||
| Chang'e 4 | Yutu-2 | CNSA
|
3 January 2019 | 45°26′38″S 177°35′56″E / 45.444°S 177.599°E | 2140 days | 1.455 km (0.904 mi)[1] as of 3 January 2023[update] |
Operational |
| First rover on the far side of the Moon. Longest fully functioning rover on the Moon. | |||||||
| Chandrayaan-2 | Pragyan |  ISRO
|
6 September 2019 | 70°54′S 22°47′E / 70.90°S 22.78°E | 0 days | 0 km | Failure |
| Lost when Vikram lander crash landed on the Moon. | |||||||
| Hakuto-R Mission 1 | Rashid |  MBRSC
|
April 2023 | TBD | 0 days | 0 km | Failure |
| Sora-Q |  Tomy/JAXA/Doshisha University
|
April 2023 | Failure | ||||
| Contact lost during final descent of the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander. Presumed crash landing and failure. | |||||||
| Chandrayaan-3 | Pragyan | ISRO
|
23 August 2023 | 69°22′23″S 32°19′08″E / 69.373°S 32.319°E[2] | 1 year, 2 months and 20 days | 101.4 m (333 ft)[3] as of 2 September 2023[update] |
Successful |
| First rover to successfully land near lunar south pole. | |||||||
| SLIM | LEV-1 | JAXA
|
January 2024 | TBD | In Orbit | ||
| LEV-2 (Sora-Q) | In Orbit | ||||||
| A hopper and a rover included in the SLIM mission which will demonstrate precision landing technology. | |||||||
| Peregrine Mission One | Iris |  CMU
|
2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Colmena x5 |  UNAM
|
Planned | |||||
| Colmena will be deployed using a small catapult mechanism. | |||||||
| IM-2 | MAPP | Lunar Outpost
|
H1 2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
| AstroAnt | MIT[4]
|
Planned | |||||
| Micro-Nova | Intuitive Machines
|
Planned | |||||
| Yaoki | Dymon
|
Planned | |||||
| MAPP and Micro-Nova will demonstrate a new lunar communication system. | |||||||
| IM-3 | Lunar Vertex | NASA/Lunar Outpost
|
H1 2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
| CADRE x4 | NASA
|
Planned | |||||
| Mission to study Reiner Gamma. | |||||||
| Griffin Mission One | VIPER | NASA
|
November 2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Will land near Nobile crater to search for Lunar water. | |||||||
| Hakuto-R Mission 2 | Micro rover | ispace Europe
|
2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Hakuto-R Mission 2 will feature a rover for surface exploration and data collection. | |||||||
| LUPEX | LUPEX Rover | JAXA ISRO
|
2025 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Joint mission between ISRO and JAXA. | |||||||
| Chang’e 7 | Chang’e 7 rover | CNSA
|
2026 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Chang’e 7 hopper | Planned | ||||||
| Will search for water ice in and around craters in the south pole of the Moon. | |||||||
| ZeusX | LIBER |  Qosmosys
|
2027 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Lunar Integrated Bulk Extraction Rover (LIBER) will mine on the lunar surface. | |||||||
| Chang’e 8 | Chang’e 8 rover | CNSA
|
2028 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Chang’e 8 Robot | Planned | ||||||
| Chinese ISRU mission in preparation for ILRS. | |||||||
| TBD | Rashid 2 | MBRSC
|
TBD | TBD | Planned | ||
| Rover development announced after failure of first rover. | |||||||
| Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Coordinates | Operational time | Distance travelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mars 2 | PrOP-M | USSR |
27 November 1971 | 45°S 47°E / 45°S 47°E | - | - |
| First rover to reach Mars. Lost when Mars 2 landing system crash landed on Mars. | ||||||
| Mars 3 | PrOP-M | USSR |
2 December 1971 | 45°S 202°E / 45°S 202°E | - | - |
| First rover to successfully land on Mars. The lander stopped communicating about 110 seconds after landing, before the rover was deployed. | ||||||
| Mars Pathfinder | Sojourner | NASA |
4 July 1997 | 38°14′16″N 35°00′06″W / 38.2378°N 35.0017°W | 85 days | 100 m (330 ft) |
| First rover to successfully run on Mars. | ||||||
| Mars Exploration Rover | Spirit | NASA |
4 January 2004 | 14°34′06″S 175°28′21″E / 14.5684°S 175.472636°E | 6 years 79 days | 7.73 km (4.80 mi) |
| Mission ended after rover got stuck in Martian sand. | ||||||
| Opportunity | NASA |
25 January 2004 | 1°56′46″S 354°28′24″E / 1.9462°S 354.4734°E | 14 years 140 days | 45.16 km (28.06 mi) | |
| Longest distance travelled by any rover and most days operated. | ||||||
| Mars Science Laboratory | Curiosity | NASA |
6 August 2012 | 4°35′22″S 137°26′30″E / 4.5895°S 137.4417°E | 12 years 98 days | 31.06 km (19.30 mi) as of 5 December 2023[update][5] |
| Rover for investigating past and present habitability, climate and geology. | ||||||
| Mars 2020 | Perseverance | NASA |
18 February 2021 | 18°26′41″N 77°27′03″E / 18.4447°N 77.4508°E | 3 years 268 days | 22.2 km (13.8 mi) as of 5 December 2023[update][6] |
| Ingenuity | 3 April 2021 (deployment) | 15.303 km (9.509 mi) in 67 flights as of 5 December 2023[update] [7] | ||||
| The Ingenuity helicopter is the first Rotorcraft to fly on an extraterrestrial body. | ||||||
| Tianwen-1 | Zhurong | CNSA |
14 May 2021 | 25°06′N 109°54′E / 25.1°N 109.9°E | 356 days | 1.921 km (1.194 mi) as of 1 May 2022[update][8] |
| Inactive after dust storm and Martian winter. | ||||||
| MMX | IDEFIX |   CNES/DLR
|
2026 | TBD | ||
| Rover for studying the surface of Phobos. | ||||||
| ExoMars | Rosalind Franklin |  ESA |
2028 | 18°16′30″N 335°22′05″E / 18.275°N 335.368°E | 420 days (planned) | |
| Rover will search for previous signs of life on Mars. | ||||||
| Mars Sample Return | Mars Sample Recovery Helicopters | NASA
|
2030 | TBD | ||
| Two Ingenuity class helicopters designed to retrieve Martian surface samples. | ||||||
| Body | Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Location | Operational time | Distance travelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 162173 Ryugu | Hayabusa2 | MINERVA-II Rover-1A | JAXA |
21 September 2019 | Tritonis | 36 days[9] | |
| MINERVA-II Rover-1B | 3 days[9] | ||||||
| Successfully landed, returned images, and hopped along surface. First rovers on an asteroid. | |||||||
| MASCOT | DLR/CNES |
3 October 2018 | Alice's Wonderland | 17 h 14 min[10] | ~17.9 m (59 ft)[10] | ||
| Successfully landed, returned images from the surface, and performed multiple hops along surface. | |||||||
| MINERVA-II Rover-2 | JAXA |
October 2019 | Unknown | 0 days | 0 m | ||
| Failed before deployment, so it was released in orbit around the asteroid to perform gravitational measurements before it impacted a few days later. | |||||||
| Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Location | Operational time | Distance travelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragonfly | NASA |
2034 | Shangri-La | 10 years (planned) | 8 km per flight | |
| Rotorcraft to be sent to Titan in 2027. | ||||||
Crewed rovers
| Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Coordinates | Operational time | Distance travelled | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apollo 15 | Lunar Roving Vehicle | NASA |
7 August 1971 | 26.1322°N 3.6339°E | 3 h 02 min | 27.76 km
(7.75 mi) |
First crewed lunar rover |
| Apollo 16 | Lunar Roving Vehicle | NASA
|
21 April 1972 | 8.97301°S 15.50019°E | 3 h 26 min | 26.55 km
(16.50 mi) |
|
| Apollo 17 | Lunar Roving Vehicle | NASA
|
11 December 1972 | 20.1908°N 30.7717°E | 4 h 26 min | 35.89 km
(22.30 mi) |
Furthest distance travelled by crewed lunar rover |
| Starship lunar cargo mission | FLEX [1] | AstroLab
|
2026 | TBD | Contracted with SpaceX to land Astrolabs’ rover on the Moon aboard Starship | ||
| Artemis 5 | Lunar Terrain Vehicle | NASA
|
2029 | TBD | Unpressurised crewed rover for the Artemis program | ||
| Artemis 7 | Lunar Cruiser | JAXA
|
2031 | TBD | Developed jointly between JAXA and Toyota | ||
| Chinese Crewed Lunar Mission | Chinese Crewed Rover | CNSA
|
2030> | TBD | Rover unrevealed at the National Museum of China on 24 February 2023 | ||
Proposed rovers
| Rover | Country/Agency | Proposed Date of launch | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MPR-1 |  STELLS
|
2025 | In range of a crater | Rover under study for power supply for future mining rovers |
| Canadensys Rover | Canadensys |
2026 | Lunar South Pole | Rover funded by CSA to scout for water ice on the Moon |
| Lunar Trailblazer |  Australian Space Agency
|
2026 | Rover being researched by Australian businesses | |
| Lunar Zebro |  Delft University of Technology
|
2026 | Lunar South Pole | Small rover studying swarm technologies |
| Luna-Grunt |  Roscosmos
|
2028 | Rover for proposed Luna 29 sample return mission, details of rover are unknown | |
| Work Robot | CNSA
|
2028 | May become part of Chang'e 8 mission.[11] | |
| HERACLES | CSA
|
2030 | Schrödinger basin | Part of European Large Logistic Lander program, will be used to transport samples and scout for resources on the Moon. |
| TBD |  KARI
|
2031 | KARI has requested a budget of $459 million for a lander and rover mission.[12] | |
| Asagumo |  Spacebit
|
TBD | Spider-like rover was planned to launch with Peregrine Mission One but its status is currently unknown | |
| CELV | Jilin University/CAST
|
TBD | Near a Lunar base | The Cubic Emergency Lunar Vehicle is an emergency crewed rover that will be stored on a larger crewed rover.[13] |
| Moonranger | Astrobotic/Carnegie Mellon University
|
TBD | Lunar South Pole | Was intended to launch in November 2023 but lunar lander provider Masten Space Systems declared bankruptcy and the rover is on hold |
See also
- List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies
- List of extraterrestrial orbiters
- List of Solar System probes
References
- ^ Andrew Jones (2021-10-05). "1,000 days on the moon! China's Chang'e 4 lunar far side mission hits big milestone". Space.com. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
- ^ Chandrayaan 3 - After The Landing What Happens Next?, retrieved 2023-08-28
- ^ "Chandrayaan-3 Mission: All planned Rover movements have been verified. The Rover has successfully traversed a distance of about 100 meters. Rover payloads LIBS and APXS are turned ON. All payloads on the propulsion module, lander module, and rover are performing nominally. #Chandrayaan_3 #Ch3". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
- ^ "AstroAnt". MIT Media Lab. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
- ^ "Where Is Curiosity?". mars.nasa.gov. NASA. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Where is Perseverance?". Mars 2020 Mission Perseverance Rover. NASA. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
- ^ "Mars Helicopter Flight Log". Mars Helicopter Tech Demo. NASA. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
- ^ "中欧火星探测器成功开展在轨中继通信试验". 新华网. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2021-12-01.
- ^ a b Yoshimitsu, Tetsuo; Kubota, Takashi; Tomiki, Atsushi; Yoshikaw, Kent (2019-10-24). Operation results of MINERVA-II twin rovers onboard Hayabusa2 asteroid explorer (PDF). 70th International Astronautical Congress. International Astronautical Federation. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
- ^ a b Davis, Jason (28 August 2019). "Hayabusa2 Lander Mania: Results from MASCOT, Plans for MINERVA-II2". The Planetary Society. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
- ^ "China to Build Lunar Research Station During Chang'e-8 Mission". YouTube.
- ^ "South Korea seeks $459 million for lunar lander project". 30 August 2022.
- ^ "MSN". MSN.
