List of rovers on extraterrestrial bodies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A rover is a planetary surface exploration vehicle designed to move over the surface of a planet or other celestial body to explore, collect information, and take samples. This is a list of the seven lunar rovers, seven Mars rovers, and three asteroid rovers that have explored extraterrestrial bodies. In addition, a small helicopter, Ingenuity, operated on Mars from 2021 to 2024.
Moon
| Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Coordinates | Operational time | Distance travelled | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luna E-8 No.201 | Lunokhod |  Lavochkin |
10 November 1968 | N/A | 0 days | 0 km | Launch failure |
| First launch of the Lunokhod rover. Launch vehicle disintegrated 51 seconds after launch and exploded.[1] | |||||||
| Luna 17 | Lunokhod 1 | USSR |
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 | USSR |
15 January 1973 | 25.85°N 30.45°E | 117 days | 39 km (24 mi) | Successful |
| Farthest distance traveled on the Moon. | |||||||
| Chang'e 3 | Yutu |  CNSA |
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 lunar rover in over 40 years. | |||||||
| Chang'e 4 | Yutu-2 | CNSA |
3 January 2019 | 45.444°S 177.599°E | 2709 days | 1.455 km (0.904 mi)[2] 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 | 70.90°S 22.78°E | 0 days | 0 km | Precluded |
| Lost when Vikram lander crash landed on the Moon. | |||||||
| Hakuto-R Mission 1 | Rashid |  MBRSC |
April 2023 | 47.581°N 44.094°E | 0 days | 0 km | Precluded |
| Sora-Q |  Tomy/JAXA/Doshisha University |
April 2023 | Precluded | ||||
| Contact lost during final descent of the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander. Presumed crash landing and failure. | |||||||
| Chandrayaan-3 | Pragyan | ISRO |
23 August 2023 | 69.373°S 32.319°E[3] | 12 days | 101.4 m (333 ft)[4] as of 2 September 2023[update] |
Successful |
| First rover to successfully operate near lunar south pole. | |||||||
| SLIM | LEV-1 | JAXA |
19 January 2024 | 13.3160°S 25.2510°E | 1 hour and 51 minutes | Successful | |
| LEV-2 (Sora-Q) | Successful | ||||||
| A hopper and a rover included in the SLIM mission which demonstrated precision landing technology. | |||||||
| Peregrine Mission One | Iris |  CMU |
2024 | N/A | 0 days | 0 km | Precluded |
| Colmena x5 |  UNAM |
Precluded | |||||
| Colmena would have been deployed using a small catapult mechanism. Mission cancelled along with the cancelled landing of Peregrine lander due to excessive propellant leak.[5] | |||||||
| Chang'e 6 | Jinchan | CNSA |
1 June 2024 | 41.63839°S 153.98545°W | 4 days | Success | |
| Conduct infrared spectroscopy of lunar surface and imaged Chang'e 6 lander on lunar surface.[6] | |||||||
| IM-2 | MAPP LV1 | Lunar Outpost |
6 March 2025 | 84.7906°S 29.1957°E | 0 days | 0 km | Precluded |
| AstroAnt | MIT[7] |
Precluded | |||||
| Micro-Nova | Intuitive Machines |
Precluded | |||||
| Yaoki | Dymon |
Precluded | |||||
| MAPP and Micro-Nova would have demonstrated a new lunar communication system. IM-2 landed on 6 March 2025. The spacecraft was intact after touchdown but resting on its side, thereby complicating its planned science and technology demonstration mission; this outcome is similar to what occurred with the company's IM-1 Odysseus spacecraft in 2024.[8] | |||||||
| Hakuto-R Mission 2 | Tenacious |  ispace Europe |
June 2025 | 60.4445°N 4.588°W | 0 days | 0 km | Precluded |
| Hakuto-R Mission 2 featured a rover for surface exploration and data collection. Contact lost during final descent of the Hakuto-R Mission 2 lander. Presumed crash landing and failure. | |||||||
| Griffin-1 | CubeRover-1 | Astrobotic |
2026 | TBD | Planned | ||
| FLIP | Astrolab |
Planned | |||||
| IM-3 | Lunar Vertex | NASA |
2026 | TBD | Planned | ||
| CADRE x4 | NASA |
Planned | |||||
| Mission to study Reiner Gamma. | |||||||
| 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. | |||||||
| Starship lunar cargo mission | FLEX | Astrolab |
2026 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Astrolab contracted with SpaceX to send their rover to the Moon aboard Starship[9][10] | |||||||
| Astrobotic mission 3 | ⚀ LunaGrid-Lite CubeRover | Astrobotic |
2026 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Third lunar mission by Astrobotic, will land at lunar south pole. LunaGrid-Lite mission. | |||||||
| LUPEX | LUPEX Rover | JAXA ISRO |
2028 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Joint mission between ISRO and JAXA. | |||||||
| Chang’e 8 | Chang’e 8 rover | CNSA |
2028 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Chang’e 8 Robot | Planned | ||||||
| Chinese ISRU mission in preparation for ILRS. | |||||||
| TBD (Lunar Rover) | South Pole Rover |  SUPARCO |
2028 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Pakistan's first Lunar rover that will be launched aboard the Chang'e 8 mission. The mission is part of the wider ILRS program.[11][12] | |||||||
| IM-5 | Roo-ver |  ASA |
2030 | Mons Malapert[13] | ~14 Days[14] | TBD | Planned |
| Australia's first Lunar Rover, | |||||||
| KLEP | KLLR Rover |  KARI |
2032 | TBD | Planned | ||
| Second mission of the Korean Lunar Exploration Program.[15] | |||||||
Mars
| Mission | Rover | Country/Agency | Date of landing | Coordinates | Operational time | Distance travelled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mars 2 | PrOP-M | USSR | 27 November 1971 | 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 | - | - |
| The lander stopped communicating about 110 seconds after landing, before the rover was deployed. | ||||||
| Mars Pathfinder | Sojourner | NASA | 4 July 1997 | 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 | 14.5684°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 | 1.9462°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 | 4.5895°S 137.4417°E | 13 years 302 days | 32.40 km (20.13 mi) as of 24 September 2024[update][16] |
| Rover for investigating past and present habitability, climate and geology. | ||||||
| Mars 2020 | Perseverance | NASA | 18 February 2021 | 18.4447°N 77.4508°E | 5 years 106 days | 29.06 km (18.06 mi) as of 24 September 2024[update][17] |
| Ingenuity | 3 April 2021 (deployment) | 2 years 340 days | 17.242 km (10.714 mi) in 72 flights[18] | |||
| The Ingenuity helicopter is the first aircraft to fly on an extraterrestrial body. | ||||||
| Tianwen-1 | Zhurong | CNSA | 14 May 2021 | 25.1°N 109.9°E | 356 days | 1.921 km (1.194 mi) as of 1 May 2022[update][19] |
| Inactive after dust storm and Martian winter. | ||||||
| MMX | Idefix |   CNES/DLR |
2027 | TBD | ||
| Rover for studying the surface of Phobos. | ||||||
Asteroids
| 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[20] | |
| MINERVA-II Rover-1B | 3 days[20] | ||||||
| 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[21] | ~17.9 m (59 ft)[21] | ||
| 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 into 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 | NASA | 2034 | Shangri-La | 10 years (planned) | ||
| Rotorcraft to be sent to Titan in 5-25 July 2028. | ||||||
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 |
| Artemis V | Lunar Terrain Vehicle | NASA |
2030 | TBD | Unpressurised crewed rover for the Artemis program | ||
| Chinese Crewed Lunar Mission | Chinese Crewed Rover | CNSA |
2030 | TBD | Rover shown at the National Museum of China on 24 February 2023 | ||
| Artemis VII | Lunar Cruiser | JAXA |
2032 | TBD | Developed jointly between JAXA and Toyota | ||
Proposed rovers
| Rover | Country/Agency | Proposed Date of launched | 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 |  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 | |
| LIBER |  Qosmosys |
2027 | TBD | Lunar Integrated Bulk Extraction Rover (LIBER) will mine on the lunar surface.[citation needed] |
| ExoMars Rosalind Franklin |  ESA |
NET 2028 | 18.275°N 335.368°E | Rover will search for previous signs of life on Mars. |
| 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. |
| 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.[22] |
| 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 |
| Rashid 2 | MBRSC |
TBD | TBD | Rover development announced after failure of first rover. |
