As soon as next year, NASA will launch a series of robotic commercial delivery missions to the moon in preparation for an astronaut lunar base. The planned Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions aim to establish a'sustainable presence' on the moon, paving the way for science and technology missions and, ultimately, human exploration. According to the space agency, water ice on the lunar surface could even serve as rocket fuel, meaning the moon could become a pit stop on the way to more distant destinations. NASA says the first trips, which could begin in 2019, will deliver instruments and technology to the surface, including devices from the former Resource Prospector concept that aimed to become the first mining expedition on another world. 'We conducted a thorough science and engineering assessment of Resource Prospector and determined all four instruments are at a high technology readiness level, are appropriate for science on the moon, and will make flights on future Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions,' said Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator Science ission Directorate, at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Nasa has cancelled its only robotic vehicle under development to explore the surface of the moon. Members of the agency's Resource Prospector mission were told to close down the project by late May. While Nasa has not given details on why it cancelled the mission, one of the team's planetary scientists speculated it was likely budget related. The decision comes just months after US President Donald Trump ordered Nasa to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. Nasa has cancelled the only robotic vehicle under development to explore the surface of the moon.

MIAMI – In a move that shocked lunar scientists, NASA has cancelled the only robotic vehicle under development to explore the surface of the moon, despite President Donald Trump's vow to return people there. Scientists working on the Resource Prospector (RP) mission, a robotic rover that had been in development for about a decade to explore a polar region of the moon, expressed astonishment at the decision. "We now understand RP was cancelled on 23 April 2018 and the project has been asked to close down by the end of May," said the letter, dated April 26, by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group. It was addressed to NASA chief Jim Bridenstine and posted on the website NASAWatch.com. "This action is viewed with both incredulity and dismay by our community," particularly because Trump's space policy "directs NASA to go to the lunar surface," the letter said.