Rovers are learning to find their own way, NASA has picked its Moon base vehicles and lunar diggers are taking shape. Big launches keep moving, though, so these figures and updates separate done from planned.
Space robots drive further while launch dates slip.
$220M awarded by NASA to Lunar Outpost for its Pegasus lunar terrain vehicle (NASA, 2026)
100 t/hr of moon dirt the Interlune-Vermeer excavator prototype can ingest (GeekWire, 2025)
25 cm accuracy of Perseverance's new self-locating system on Mars (NASA JPL, 2026)
Japan's MMX probe and its small Idefix rover get ready for Mars
· Launch
DLR says JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration probe is set to launch on October 19, 2026 (CEST), with a window to November 7. It carries Idefix, a 25-kilogram German-French rover planned to land on Phobos in 2029 and explore for 100 days, before samples return in 2031.
Why it matters: Idefix must drive in very weak gravity and temperatures from minus 170 to 70 degrees Celsius. A launch date is a plan, not a result, so watch whether the window holds.
China postpones Chang'e-7, its lunar south pole rover and hopper mission
· Launch
China's Chang'e-7 missed its August launch window after Tropical Depression Narra formed near the Wenchang site. State media said the probe cannot launch during this year's planned window. The mission pairs an orbiter and lander with a rover and a hopping robot to search for water ice.
Why it matters: Chang'e-7 is one of the most complex robotic lunar missions planned. Its delay shows how weather and orbital timing still decide schedules, so any new date should be treated as provisional.
Vermeer and Interlune widen their work on autonomous lunar diggers
· Partnership
Equipment maker Vermeer and lunar resource startup Interlune expanded their partnership to develop autonomous excavation and site-preparation technology for the Moon. They plan to deliver a mission-ready site-preparation tool by 2028, integrated with a lunar rover and tested on Earth before a demonstration mission.
Why it matters: Lunar site preparation borrows directly from quarry and earthworks machinery. Teams running autonomous equipment on rough ground at home can map routes, charging and comms gaps in Robot Finder first.
Perseverance completes a marathon on Mars in half Opportunity's time
· Milestone
NASA's Perseverance rover has driven a full marathon distance of 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers), reaching it on sol 1,890 after five years and four months of driving. The previous record holder, Opportunity, took 11 years and two months to cover the same distance.
Why it matters: Faster driving comes largely from better onboard navigation and hazard avoidance. Each gain in rover autonomy reduces how much a mission depends on slow, delayed instructions from Earth.
NASA picks Astrolab and Lunar Outpost to build Moon base rovers
· Funding
NASA awarded lunar terrain vehicle contracts to Astrolab ($219 million) and Lunar Outpost ($220 million), plus $188 million to Blue Origin to deliver them, with a $280.4 million option. Lunar Outpost's Pegasus is designed to operate for up to a year, driven manually, autonomously or by teleoperation.
Why it matters: These rovers are meant to work without crews for long stretches, which puts remote operation and autonomy at the center. NASA aims to have the mobility systems on the Moon by 2028.
Perseverance learns to find its own position on Mars
· Research
A JPL technique called Mars Global Localization lets Perseverance compare navigation camera panoramas with onboard orbital maps to locate itself within about 10 inches in roughly two minutes. It was tested on data from 264 earlier rover stops and first used in operations on February 2.
Why it matters: Knowing where it is without asking Earth lets a rover keep driving through long delays. A Site Readiness Survey asks the same question on Earth: what a robot does when its link drops.