After Mars, the Moon! The French CASPEX cameras, developed at CNES and already operating on the U.S. Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, will be heading for our planet’s natural satellite in 2026. Three of the cameras will equip the United Arab Emirates’ Rashid-2 rover, scheduled to fly to the Moon with U.S. firm Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander in the second half of 2026.

France contributing to instrument and operations

CNES has been developing these innovative cameras designed to operate in the environment of space since 2015. France’s contribution to the Rashid-2 mission consists of two complete CASPEX cameras and a module, delivered in November 2024. The UAE’s Rashid teams also came to CNES in February to test their rover in CNES’s thermal vacuum facilities.

CASPEX cameras have already proved their capabilities on the Eyesat nanosatellite, the SuperCam instrument on the Perseverance Mars rover and on 100 OneWeb satellites. Besides supplying the instrument, our agency will also be involved in operations, contributing image-quality expertise from a mission centre in Toulouse. CNES and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 15 September at World Space Business Week in Paris.

Paving the way for future lunar missions

Unlike the first Rashid mission, which ended in failure after crashing into the lunar surface, the Rashid-2 rover will explore the far side of the Moon at its south pole like most commercial lunar missions.

One of the objectives of this second Rashid rover built by MBRSC will be to test the ability of its wheels to withstand the dust and wear and tear of the lunar surface. It will also offer the opportunity to collect data on plasma, geology and thermal conditions for future lunar missions.

Working with teams at the CRPG Earth and planetary sciences laboratory in Nancy, the mission aims to gain new insights into the Moon’s geology, crucial to advancing scientific research. The rover will also be testing the CASPEX cameras’ ability to withstand the freezing cold of lunar nights, when temperatures can reach as low as –180°C, providing valuable input for the design of future rovers.