NASA has finished developing and testing a group of small rovers that will autonomously map the lunar surface.
The rovers are part of a technology demonstration called Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration, or CADRE, and will be installed on Intuitive Machines‘ Nova-C lander for the IM-3 mission to reach the moon’s Reiner Gamma region, NASA said on Thursday.
During their two weeks on the moon, the CADRE rovers will carry out experiments using ground-penetrating radar to look below the surface while exploring and mapping the moon.
The rovers include hardware components built by Motiv Space Systems and were developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program under the Science Mission Directorate.
The Nova-C lander will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Ames Research Center in California provided support for the project. Clemson University in South Carolina also contributed.
