NASA develops nuclear-powered PROMISE rover for mission to Moon's South Pole

The spacecraft is designed to explore the surface and subsurface soil layers near the pole, assess available resources there, and collect data to select future landing sites and construct a lunar base. The nuclear power source will allow the rover to operate during long lunar nights and in areas that never receive sunlight, where ice is presumed to exist. The estimated duration of the mission is 18 months.

The lunar rover will be built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Engineers will assemble it from spare flight components and test articles from the Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers; according to the agency, this will reduce costs and speed up assembly and testing. Onboard equipment will include a drill to sample regolith from a depth of about one meter, spectrometers to analyze the chemical composition of the soil, temperature and radiation sensors, as well as visible-spectrum cameras. The rover will also test the radiation-hardened High Performance Spaceflight Computing system.

The delivery of PROMISE has been entrusted to Blue Origin, which will use the Mark 1 lander. The base value of the contract is $94 million, with an option for an additional $140 million. NASA announced this at the MAX POWER exposition at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, along with other contracts related to the lunar base: in particular, eight companies, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Lockheed Martin Space, were selected for the CLPS 2 commercial cargo delivery program—a 10-year framework contract with a maximum total value of $10 billion.

"When our astronauts return to the Moon, the first elements of a lunar base will already be waiting for them on the surface," stated NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.