WASHINGTON / RankWire.AI / – NASA has provided an update on its initiatives to develop both crewed and robotic lunar vehicles designed to facilitate exploration and establish a permanent lunar base. The agency shared this progress in a Moon Base video update on Tuesday, October 20. The plans include the VIPER robotic rover and new lunar terrain vehicles intended for astronauts. Robert Pickle, director of the Surface Mobility Office within NASA’s Moon Base Program, emphasized that lunar rovers are key components of the agency’s surface mobility strategy.
The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is scheduled to land at the lunar South Pole in 2027. Its mission will be to investigate permanently shadowed craters to find water and other resources that could support future missions. The rover will be delivered by Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 1 lander and is capable of traveling over 30 kilometers. It will gather data on temperature, lighting, and terrain conditions.
Constructed entirely at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, VIPER is currently in the final phase of testing before being shipped to Kennedy Space Center for launch. Mission operations will be managed from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. In September 2025, NASA selected Blue Origin under a Commercial Lunar Payload Services task order, valued at up to $190 million, to deliver the rover. The planned mission duration is 100 days, with its findings expected to inform future lunar water resource utilization.
Surface vehicles designed for crew transportation
To enhance mobility on the lunar surface, NASA has awarded task orders to Astrolab and Lunar Outpost for the development of lunar terrain vehicles, or LTVs. These vehicles will carry astronauts, transport equipment, and facilitate sample collection. Astrolab’s CLV-1 is based on its FLEX rover design, whereas Lunar Outpost’s Pegasus is a lighter, evolved version of its Eagle vehicle. Both companies aim to deliver operational hardware to NASA by the end of 2027. Additionally, NASA has tasked Blue Origin with delivering the LTVs to the lunar South Pole region by 2028.
The LTVs will arrive on the Moon prior to crewed Artemis missions. They will be remotely operated from Earth to map the surface ahead of human arrival, covering up to 6 kilometers daily. Each vehicle can travel up to 10 kilometers on a single battery charge and support up to three moonwalks per Artemis mission. They will carry as much as 80 kilograms of lunar samples and tools and must withstand temperatures as low as minus 203 degrees Celsius in shadowed regions.
Upcoming testing phases and design milestones
Both firms are progressing through critical design review stages. Lunar Outpost’s preliminary design review was scheduled for October, with Astrolab’s planned for late December. Astrolab has provided a CLV-1 mockup to Axiom Space for astronaut testing, while Lunar Outpost has built two mockups and delivered a static model to Johnson Space Center. Additionally, Astrolab’s FLIP rover will participate in Griffin Mission One in late 2026, and a second Lunar Outpost MAPP rover is slated for launch early 2027.
These rover initiatives build upon NASA’s return to deep space exploration with crewed missions. The Artemis II mission set a record for the farthest human spaceflight in April. Meanwhile, Blue Origin plans to launch its Blue Moon landers using the New Glenn rocket. NASA states that these vehicles will enable astronauts to explore geologically diverse regions of the lunar surface, with the rovers forming a vital part of efforts to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon.