Exploring the Moon will require rovers that can think for themselves – an upcoming NASA mission will test whether they can

NASA’s CADRE mission will test a small team of autonomous rovers that can function without constant communication with Earth.

By: Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, University of Florida, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: August 13, 2026

Words: 1,168

Last Updated: 5 days, 6 hours ago

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By Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, University of Florida

NASA is planning to send three small rovers to the Moon with a single instruction: Work out among yourselves how to explore a patch of ground.

The Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration mission, or CADRE, will land on the side of the Moon facing Earth as part of NASA’s IM-3 launch, planned for late 2026. These rovers will spend roughly two weeks mapping the terrain as a …

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