The best rover space startups
7 rovers companies in the directory, ranked by disclosed funding ($227.3M raised between them), spanning 3 countries.
Machines that drive rather than orbit. Landers and surface rovers built to carry payloads, instruments and eventually crew across regolith. ispace and Astrobotic deliver the cargo to the surface; Astrolab and Lunar Outpost build the trucks that move it once it lands.
Updated 27 September 2026 · 3 milestones in the last 90 days · Follow by RSS
State of the sector
As of 27 September 2026
ispace and Astrobotic build lunar landers. Astrolab, Lunar Outpost and GITAI build rovers and robots for the surface.
NASA picked Astrolab in May 2026 to supply the rover for the Artemis astronauts, and in June ordered a second Peregrine lander from Astrobotic, two weeks before Voyager completed its purchase of the company. ispace signed ESA's contract for MAGPIE, Europe's first lunar rover, to fly on its ULTRA lander in 2029.
Several lunar efforts have failed. ispace's second mission crashed in June 2025. PT Scientists went insolvent in 2019 and was dissolved in 2024, and Moon Express has shown no activity since a 2019 court judgment.
Latest milestones
Every dated event from the companies below, newest first, each with its source.
ispace: ESA and ispace-EUROPE sign the €65M Phase 2 contract for MAGPIE, Europe's first lunar surface rover, to fly on the Mission 4 ULTRA lander in 2029ispace: Mitsubishi Heavy to launch the ULTRA lander on an H3 in 2028
Astrobotic: Voyager completes its acquisition of AstroboticAstrobotic: NASA awards a $298 million order for Peregrine-2Astrobotic: Voyager Technologies agrees to buy Astrobotic for about $300 million
Astrolab: NASA selects Astrolab to provide the lunar rover for Artemis astronauts’ return to the Moonispace: Unveils the ULTRA lander and moves Mission 3 to 2028ispace: RESILIENCE crash lands, ending Mission 2 in failureispace: Draper releases $7.7 million more under NASA CLPS task order CP-12
Lunar Outpost: MAPP rover reaches the Moon on IM-2 but cannot deploy after the Athena lander tips over; the rover survives and returns transit dataShow 26 earlier milestones
ispace: RESILIENCE launches alongside Firefly's Blue GhostAstrolab: FLIP, its smaller rover, becomes the primary payload on Astrobotic’s Griffin-1 Moon lander
PT Scientists: The legal entity is dissolved by merger, recorded only in the commercial registerAstrobotic: NASA cancels VIPER but keeps the Griffin task orderAstrolab: Wins one of three places on NASA’s $4.6B Lunar Terrain Vehicle contract for ArtemisLunar Outpost: Leads the Lunar Dawn team awarded a NASA Lunar Terrain Vehicle contract for Artemisispace: Raises $53.5 million in an overseas share saleAstrobotic: Peregrine destroyed in a controlled reentry over the South PacificAstrobotic: Peregrine suffers a propellant leak hours after launchispace: Mission 1 crashes after software rejects the altimeter readingispace: Lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth MarketAstrolab: Books its FLEX rover onto a SpaceX Starship lunar lander flight, SpaceX’s first commercial lunar cargo contractispace: HAKUTO-R Mission 1 launches to the Moon on a Falcon 9Astrolab: Emerges from stealth, unveiling FLEX with a full-scale prototype driven in the California desertAstrobotic: NASA awards $199.5 million to deliver VIPER on the Griffin landerPT Scientists: Relaunches as Planetary Transportation Systems after a rescue by logistics firm Zeitfracht and a management buyoutPT Scientists: Files for preliminary insolvency in Berlin while seeking funds for the ALINA landerAstrobotic: NASA awards a $79.5 million CLPS order for 14 Peregrine payloads
Moon Express: Selected as one of nine NASA CLPS providersMoon Express: Raises $12.5 million in bridge and Series B fundingMoon Express: Jury awards Intuitive Machines $4.1 million against Moon ExpressMoon Express: Raises $20 million Series B-1Moon Express: FAA grants the first approval for a private lunar landingMoon Express: Buys three Rocket Lab Electron launches for lunar missionsAll 7 rover companies
Ranked by disclosed funding.
How many rovers space startups are there in 2026?
Space Bandits tracks 7 rovers companies, 3 of them active, with $227.3M in disclosed funding between them.
What is the latest news from rovers startups?
The most recent milestone on record is from ispace, dated 2 September 2026: "ESA and ispace-EUROPE sign the €65M Phase 2 contract for MAGPIE, Europe's first lunar surface rover, to fly on the Mission 4 ULTRA lander in 2029."
How many rovers startups have shut down?
1 of the 7 have shut down, and 1 more are dormant, with no public activity for years. The graveyard records how each one ended.
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