Nasa has asked Japan to design a pressurised rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration on the Moon, with a Japanese astronaut to become the first non-American to land on the lunar surface.

The rover is intended to enable astronauts to travel farther and work for longer periods while exploring the Moon. It will also function as a mobile habitat and laboratory for the astronauts to live and work in for extended periods of time.

It will be able to accommodate two astronauts for up to 30 days as they traverse the area near the lunar South Pole. Nasa currently plans to use the pressurised rover on Artemis VII and subsequent missions over an approximate 10-year lifespan.

The project is part of Nasa’s Artemis programme, which was formally established in 2017 during the Trump administration. It launched its first uncrewed mission in November last year using the long-delayed Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

It aims to establish a crewed base near the lunar South Pole, where subsurface water ice...