NASA announced PROMISE on November 7, 2026, as a planned rover mission to the lunar South Pole. The agency’s plan calls for a launch in late 2028 and an 18-month primary mission to study the region’s surface and subsurface, investigate potential resources and scout conditions for NASA’s planned Moon Base. NASA’s mission overview describes a future mission, not a completed lunar operation.
A rover to survey the lunar South Pole
PROMISE is intended to gather information about the polar terrain and assess its resource potential. Some permanently shadowed regions may preserve ice and other resources; the rover’s instruments are designed to investigate those possibilities. The findings could also help NASA evaluate terrain and conditions relevant to future infrastructure and exploration.
NASA’s schedule and the planned delivery lander
NASA lists a late-2028 launch and an 18-month primary mission. At the November 7 event, NASA officials identified Blue Origin’s Mark 1 lander as the vehicle that will deliver PROMISE to the lunar surface.
Mars-rover hardware for polar operations
NASA plans to build PROMISE largely from existing Mars-rover test-bed hardware. Its electronics, body structure and mobility system draw on a duplicate vehicle-system test bed built for Curiosity, supplemented with spare and test-bed parts from Curiosity and Perseverance. NASA also plans an MMRTG, a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator, to support operations during lunar nights and in permanently shadowed regions. NASA’s mission description outlines these design plans.
The rover’s six-wheel mobility system will collect information about how the lunar soil, or regolith, responds to movement, including whether it is firm, loose or uneven. That terrain data can help inform future landing-site choices and the design of lunar vehicles and infrastructure.
What the drill and instruments are designed to measure
NASA says the TRIDENT rotary-percussive drill is designed to collect regolith from depths of up to 1 meter in 10-centimeter increments. MSOLO will analyze gases released from drilled material; NIRVSS will look for possible ice and characterize surface minerals; and NSS will detect hydrogen to help locate subsurface water. LAFORGE will measure temperatures in cold traps and help characterize regolith, while RAD measures radiation. LRA supports rover location by reflecting laser light, and Lunar Dashcam is designed to capture stereo panoramas for three-dimensional terrain maps.
Four of those instruments, TRIDENT, MSOLO, NIRVSS and NSS, are also flying on VIPER. NASA expects the missions to provide complementary data from different areas of the lunar South Pole.
PROMISE also carries planned technology demonstrations for autonomous navigation. HPSC, a high-performance spaceflight computer, will process data from SCAN-3D lidar, which maps the surface using laser pulses, with HI-RATE navigation software. NASA intends the system to support longer drives in both sunlit and dark conditions with less operator intervention.
The drill can probe beneath the surface, while terrain imaging and mobility data help characterize the ground a rover must cross. Those measurements address different parts of the challenge of exploring the lunar South Pole.
