NASA has a spare Mars rover that it hopes to send to the moon, officials at the space agency announced on Tuesday.
It already has a name: PROMISE, an acronym for Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping and In-Situ Exploration.
It was originally used as the engineering test model for Curiosity and later Perseverance, the two S.U.V.-size vehicles currently exploring the surface of Mars.
With both Curiosity and Perseverance well established, NASA wondered if a third rover was still needed on Earth.
“So, the question was posed: What if we send it to the moon?” Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, said during an update of the agency’s moon base plans on Tuesday.
He said NASA was now “thinking very hard” about doing just that.
“It’s going to bring an immense capability to the lunar south pole in short order,” Mr. Isaacman said.
Like Curiosity and Perseverance, PROMISE would be powered by a chunk of plutonium, using the heat to generate electricity. That would allow the rover to easily operate through the long lunar nights — two weeks of continual darkness with temperatures of minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit or colder. Such conditions sap the energy of solar-powered missions, especially for exploring craters near the moon’s south pole, where direct sunlight never shines.
“Long traverses, getting into those very hard-to-reach areas, just like Curiosity and Perseverance have shown us on the surface of Mars — that would be awesome,” said Carlos García-Galán, who leads NASA’s Moon Base program.
On Tuesday, NASA also announced that it had awarded contracts for four additional robotic landers to bring scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the surface of the moon in late 2028.
All four contracts went to companies that NASA hired previously, although with mixed results.
Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh will send two landers to the moon for $297.9 million. (The company’s first attempt, in 2024, suffered a catastrophic malfunction with its propulsion system and never got close to the moon.)
Intuitive Machines of Houston will send one lander for $148.3 million. (Intuitive’s first two landers made it to the surface of the moon in working condition, but both toppled over and were not able to accomplish most of what they had planned to do on the surface.)
Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, will send one lander for $144.2 million. (Firefly’s mission last year is so far the only one of NASA’s commercially financed landers to succeed from start to finish.)
Mr. Isaacman also tried to provide some motivation for the U.S. soccer team at the World Cup tournament. “What do you think the chances are here — if America wins it all — that we can find some volume here on one of these landers to put one of the soccer balls in?” Mr. Isaacman asked Mr. García-Galán.
“If the United States wins the World Cup, we will absolutely find space,” Mr. García-Galán replied.
But he noted that the United States would probably have to first beat Spain, his native country and one of the World Cup favorites, in the quarterfinals.
“We will see what happens,” Mr. García-Galán said.
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