Cuberover for Lunar Resource Site Evaluation

The proposed innovation is a Lunar CubeRover specialized as a 2 kg payload to evaluate lander ejecta and to characterize small-rover trafficability. This CubeRover and its roles are specific to the RFP though broadly more general and impactful for exploration enterprise. The proposal offers the prospect for standardization, democratization and broad applicability of CubeRover analogous to the way that CubeSats transformed the domain of Earth orbit and SmallSat enterprise. For the specific context of this proposal, CubeRover is specialized to address III-C-2 In-situ Lunar Surface Trafficability (topic III-C-2) and Descent Engine Blast Ejecta Phenomena (topic III-D-4).

CubeRover opens the prospect for a class of light, affordable, frequent and standardized planetary surface deployments. This is transformational in its own right.

A substantial commercial movement is evolving to layer robotics over hobby-grade remote control. This is a high demand for the automation capabilities that are proposed here using minimal assets like fixed monocular camera, limited computing and small-scale, low-powered platforms. The terrain modeling is highly relevant to non-NASA applications as encountered in nuclear waste cleanup,

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 5) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.