The Canadian space start-up firm STELLS has announced that it is working on a rover to go to the Moon. The rover is called Mobile Power Rover-1 (MPR-1) which will be battery powered with its power recharged by solar arrays. The rover has also the ability to recharge other smaller rover vehicles via wireless recharging in a technology similar to that available to mobile phones. The MPR-1 rover will be lauched in the period 2024-2025 as a hitchhiking payload on an Intuitive Machines lander to the south pole of the Moon. Lunar rovers are becoming plentiful with a vertitable armada heading for the Moon next year. Meanwhile more are being ordered. The Canadian Space Agency announced it awarded a Can$43 million (US$32 million) contract to Canadensys Aerospace Corporation to build a lunar rover to fly as as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services programme in 2026.
Video still showing MPR-1 lunar rover design. Courtesy: STELLS
