Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover

IM-2 · landed · commercial payload

A small four-wheeled commercial rover, about 45 cm long, from Lunar Outpost ('Lunar Voyage 1'). It was to drive from the lander, map the surface with stereo and thermal imagery, act as a mobile user on Nokia's 4G/LTE network, carry MIT's AstroAnt and camera, and collect a little regolith to sell to NASA for $1.

PI: not in public sources
Built by: Lunar Outpost (Arvada, Colorado) (company)

Technology	small commercial rover (surface mobility, prospecting)
Moon Base need	#0805, #0804, DN-008 L (NASA's Moon Base Users Guide sets a Phase 1 mobility target for small utility rovers and hoppers. MAPP was an early commercial rover of that kind. Tying it to the gaps on autonomous mobility (#0805), robots in extreme cold (#0804) and regolith properties (DN-008 L) is the study's reading. Lunar Outpost later won NASA work on the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (USAspending, 2024-2026).)
Route onto CLPS	commercial; A commercial payload on Intuitive Machines' lander. Lunar Outpost was Nokia's partner in the 2020 Tipping Point demonstration, and NASA chose it in December 2020 to collect regolith at the South Pole and sell it to NASA for $1. Who paid for MAPP's ride is not in public sources.; 2020-12-03
Timeline	first funding 2019 (NASA SBIR Phase I naming MAPP); earlier company funding not in public sources; first flight test not in public sources; selected 2020-12-03 (NASA regolith purchase; the ride's date is not public); launch 2025-02-26; landing 2025-03-06
On the Moon	partly operated
FO	none

Flights before the Moon

None found in the public sources.

Heritage hardware

• company design line: MAPP is Lunar Outpost's own rover design; the 2019 SBIR studied a cryogenic version for lunar night and shadowed regions. No earlier flight of a MAPP or its prototypes is named in public sources.

"Cryogenic Thermal Management Systems for Lunar Outpost Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) Rover"
— SBIR.gov award data, award 193809, award title

Funding before the lunar flight

• NASA SBIR Phase I, 'Cryogenic Thermal Management Systems for Lunar Outpost Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) Rover' (193809 / 80NSSC19C0598; TechPort 112853). The title names MAPP. It studied a cold-tolerant version (COLD-MAPP), so it is design work for the rover family, not the IM-2 unit itself. No Phase II found. (NASA SBIR; 2019-2020): $120,964

"This rover platform is dubbed the Cryogenic-Operation, Long-Duration Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform, or COLD-MAPP."
— SBIR.gov award data, award 193809, abstract; 80NSSC19C0598, award amount 120964.0

• NASA purchase order to buy lunar regolith from Lunar Outpost (80NSSC21P0458), $1. A purchase of material, not development money. (NASA (space resources purchase); 2020-2025): $1

"PURCHASE OF LUNAR REGOLITH AND/OR ROCK MATERIALS FROM CONTRACTOR"
— USAspending.gov, 80NSSC21P0458; amount 1.0, 2020-12-01 to 2025-12-02

How it got onto CLPS

"Lunar Outpost proposed collection for $1 following arrival of a lander to the lunar South Pole in 2023."
— NASA Selects Companies to Collect Lunar Resources for Artemis Demonstrations - NASA, 3 Dec 2020

"Lunar Outpost, whose Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover, also manifested for an Intuitive Machines flight, would operate as a mobile user on the lunar surface"
— NTRS 20250001947, page 2

On the Moon

MAPP survived the landing and returned data in transit, in lunar orbit and from the surface, but the lander on its side blocked its deployment, so it never drove, never used the network as a mobile user and never collected regolith for NASA. Lunar Outpost says its data show the rover would have driven.

"Intuitive Machines landing on its side prevented MAPP's deployment"
— Private mini rover aboard sideways Athena moon lander was ready to roll — but it couldn't get out, Lunar Outpost statement

"collected data from the lunar surface and in transit, and proved MAPP was ready to drive"
— Private mini rover aboard sideways Athena moon lander was ready to roll — but it couldn't get out

"Lunar Outpost, confirmed on its social media that Athena’s landing orientation prevented the deployment of its Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) rover"
— Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 Moon mission ends with lander on its side – Spaceflight Now

FO's role

Grade: none. No FO project or flight by Lunar Outpost or of MAPP. FO's tie is to a payload the rover carried: MIT's AstroAnt, which FO flew on parabolic flights in 2021 (see im2-astroant). FO's FY2023 report names the rover only as AstroAnt's host. That does not make MAPP FO-tested.

"On the IM-2 mission, it was to begin its work when the rover from Arvada"
— Flight-Tested Technologies for Safety in Space Head to the Moon, FO's IM-2 page, on AstroAnt

Who built it

"The Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), developed by Lunar Outpost"
— Falcon 9 launches second lunar mission of 2025 with IM-2 lander - NASASpaceFlight.com

"Our Lunar Voyage 1 MAPP rover successfully made it to"
— Private mini rover aboard sideways Athena moon lander was ready to roll — but it couldn't get out, Lunar Outpost statement

Moon Base need

"Mobility target: "Deployment of small utility rovers and hoppers to conduct science, reconnaissance, and resource discovery" (p. 9)"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: What the architecture says the Moon Base needs

"THE LUNAR TERRAIN VEHICLE SERVICES (LTVS) HIGH ACHIEVABILITY MISSION CAMPAIGN"
— USAspending.gov, 80JSC026FA107 (2026), after IM-2

Open questions

• Who paid for MAPP's ride on IM-2, and how much: not in public sources.
• Lunar Outpost's own development spending on MAPP: not in public sources.
• Was MAPP or a prototype ever flight-tested (parabolic, suborbital) before IM-2? Not in public sources.
• What data MAPP returned in transit and on the surface: not in public sources beyond Lunar Outpost's statement.