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.
Moon
Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Coordinates | Operational time | Distance travelled | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Luna 17 | Lunokhod 1 | ![]() |
17 November 1970 | 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 | ![]() |
15 January 1971 | 25.85°N 30.45°E | 236 days | 39 km (24 mi) | Successful |
Farthest distance traveled on the Moon. | |||||||
Chang'e 3 | Yutu | ![]() |
14 December 2013 | 44.1214°N 19.5116°W | 42 days (mobile) 973 days (total) |
114.8 m (377 ft) | Successful |
First Chinese extraterrestrial rover and first soft landing on the Moon in over 35 years. | |||||||
Chang'e 4 | Yutu-2 | ![]() |
3 January 2019 | 45.444°S 177.599°E | 1756 days | 1.455 km (0.904 mi)[1] as of 3 January 2023 |
Operational |
First soft landing on the far side of the Moon. Longest fully functioning rover on the Moon. | |||||||
Chandrayaan-2 | Pragyan | ![]() |
6 September 2019 | 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 | ![]() |
April 2023 | TBD | 0 days | 0 km | Failure |
Sora-Q | ![]() |
April 2023 | Failure | ||||
Contact lost during final descent of the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander. Presumed crash landing and failure. | |||||||
Chandrayaan-3 | Pragyan | ![]() |
23 August 2023 | 69.373°S 32.319°E[2] | 2 months and 2 days | 101.4 m (333 ft)[3] as of 2 September 2023 |
Successful |
First rover and first soft landing near lunar south pole. | |||||||
SLIM | LEV-1 | ![]() |
February 2024 | TBD | En route | ||
LEV-2 (Sora-Q) | En route | ||||||
A hopper and a rover included in the SLIM mission which will demonstrate precision landing technology. | |||||||
Mission One | Colmena x5 | ![]() |
2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
Iris | ![]() |
Planned | |||||
Colmena will be deployed using a small catapult mechanism. | |||||||
IM-2 | MAPP | ![]() |
H1 2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
AstroAnt | ![]() |
Planned | |||||
Micro-Nova | ![]() |
Planned | |||||
Yaoki | ![]() |
Planned | |||||
MAPP and Micro-Nova will demonstrate a new lunar communication system. | |||||||
IM-3 | Lunar Vertex | ![]() |
H1 2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
CADRE x4 | ![]() |
Planned | |||||
Mission to study Reiner Gamma. | |||||||
VIPER | ![]() |
November 2024 | TBD | Planned | |||
Will land near Nobile crater to search for Lunar water. | |||||||
Hakuto-R Mission 2 | ispace Rover | ![]() |
2024 | TBD | Planned | ||
Hakuto-R Mission 2 will feature a rover for surface exploration and data collection. | |||||||
Chang’e 7 | Chang’e 7 rover | ![]() |
2026 | TBD | Planned | ||
Chang’e 7 hopper | Planned | ||||||
Will search for water ice in and around craters in the south pole of the Moon. | |||||||
LUPEX | LUPEX Rover | ![]() ![]() |
2025 | TBD | Planned | ||
Joint mission between ISRO and JAXA. | |||||||
ZeusX | LIBER | ![]() |
2027 | TBD | Planned | ||
Lunar Integrated Bulk Extraction Rover (LIBER) will mine on the lunar surface. | |||||||
Chang’e 8 | Chang’e 8 rover | ![]() |
2028 | TBD | Planned | ||
Chang’e 8 Robot | Planned | ||||||
Chinese ISRU mission in preparation for ILRS. | |||||||
TBD | Rashid 2 | ![]() |
TBD | TBD | Planned | ||
Rover development announced after failure of first rover. |
Mars
Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Coordinates | Operational time | Distance travelled |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mars 2 | PrOP-M | ![]() | 27 November 1971 | 45°S 47°E | - | - |
First rover launched to Mars. Lost when Mars 2 lander crash landed on Mars. | ||||||
Mars 3 | PrOP-M | ![]() | 2 December 1971 | 45°S 202°E | - | - |
Mars 3 lander stopped communicating about 20 seconds after landing, contact with rover was not established. | ||||||
Mars Pathfinder | Sojourner | ![]() | 4 July 1997 | 38.2378°N 35.0017°W | 85 days | 100 m (330 ft) |
First successful rover on Mars. | ||||||
Mars Exploration Rover | Spirit | ![]() | 4 January 2004 | 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 | ![]() | 25 January 2004 | 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 | ![]() | 6 August 2012 | 4.5895°S 137.4417°E | 11 years 80 days | 27.55 km (17.12 mi) as of 24 March 2022[4] |
Currently active. | ||||||
Mars 2020 | Perseverance | ![]() | 18 February 2021 | 18.4447°N 77.4508°E | 2 years 249 days | 21.28 km (13.22 mi) as of 19 October 2023[5] |
Ingenuity | 3 April 2021 (deployment) | 14.659 km (9.109 mi) in 63 flights as of 19 October 2023 (UTC) | ||||
Currently active, with Ingenuity helicopter. Ingenuity is the first Rotorcraft to fly on an extraterrestrial body. | ||||||
Tianwen-1 | Zhurong | ![]() | 14 May 2021 | 25.1°N 109.9°E | 356 days | 1.921 km (1.194 mi) as of 1 May 2022[6] |
Inactive after dust storm and Martian winter. | ||||||
MMX | IDEFIX | ![]() ![]() |
2025 | TBD | ||
Rover developed to study the surface of Phobos. | ||||||
ExoMars | Rosalind Franklin | ![]() | 2028 | 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 | ![]() |
2030 | TBD | ||
2 Ingenuity class helicopters designed to retrieve Martian regolith samples. |
Asteroids
Body | Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Location | Operational time | Distance travelled |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
162173 Ryugu | Hayabusa2 | MINERVA-II Rover-1A | ![]() | 21 September 2019 | Tritonis | 36 days[7] | |
MINERVA-II Rover-1B | 3 days[7] | ||||||
Successfully landed, returned images, and hopped along surface. First rovers on an asteroid. | |||||||
MASCOT | ![]() ![]() | 3 October 2018 | Alice's Wonderland | 17 h 14 min[8] | ~17.9 m (59 ft)[8] | ||
Successfully landed, returned images from the surface, and performed multiple hops along surface. | |||||||
MINERVA-II Rover-2 | ![]() | 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. |
Titan
Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Location | Operational time | Distance travelled |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dragonfly | ![]() | 2034 | Shangri-La | 10 years (planned) | 8 km per flight | |
Rotorcraft to be sent to Titan in 2027. |
Proposed rovers
Rover | Country/Agency | Proposed Date of launch | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
MPR-1 | ![]() |
2025 | In range of a crater | Rover under study for power supply for future mining rovers |
Canadensys Rover | ![]() | 2026 | Lunar South Pole | Rover funded by CSA to scout for water ice on the Moon |
Lunar Zebro | ![]() |
2026 | Lunar South Pole | Small rover studying swarm technologies |
Lunar Trailblazer | ![]() |
2026 | Rover being researched by Australian Businesses | |
Luna-Grunt | ![]() |
2028 | Rover for proposed Luna 29 sample return mission, details of rover are unknown | |
Work Robot | ![]() |
2028 | Might be part of Chang'e 8 mission.[9] | |
HERACLES | ![]() |
2030 | Schrödinger basin | Part of European Large Logistic Lander program, Will be used to transport samples and scout for resources on the Moon. |
TBD | ![]() |
2031 | KARI has requested a budget of $459 million for a lander and rover mission.[10] | |
CELV | ![]() |
TBD | Near a Lunar base | The Cubic Emergency Lunar Vehicle is an emergency crewed rover that will be stored on a larger crewed rover.[11] |
Moonranger | ![]() |
TBD | Lunar South Pole | Was intended to launch in November 2023 but Lunar
Lander provider hit bankruptcy and rover is on hold for now |
Asagumo | ![]() |
TBD | Spider-like rover was planned to launch with
Peregrine Mission One but status is currently unknown |
Crewed rovers
Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Coordinates | Operational time | Distance travelled | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apollo 15 | Lunar Roving Vehicle | ![]() | 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 | ![]() |
21 April 1972 | 8.97301°S 15.50019°E | 3 h 26 min | 26.55 km
(16.50 mi) |
|
Apollo 17 | Lunar Roving Vehicle | ![]() |
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 | ![]() |
2026 | TBD | Contracted with SpaceX to land Astrolabs’ rover on the Moon aboard Starship | ||
Artemis 5 | Lunar Terrain Vehicle | ![]() |
2029 | TBD | unpressurised crewed rover for the Artemis program | ||
Artemis 7 | Lunar Cruiser | ![]() |
2031 | TBD | Developed jointly between JAXA and Toyota | ||
Chinese Crewed Lunar Mission | Chinese Crewed Rover | ![]() |
2030> | TBD | Rover unrevealed at the National Museum of China on Feb 24th 2023 |
See also
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.
- "Where Is Curiosity?". mars.nasa.gov. NASA. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- "Where is Perseverance?". Mars 2020 Mission Perseverance Rover. NASA. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- "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.
- 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.
- 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.
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