Venturi Space's MONA LUNA rover completes driving tests at ESA's LUNA centre in Cologne

Venturi Space's MONA LUNA lunar rover completed a multi-day test campaign at the European Space Agency's LUNA centre in Cologne, executing its first driving trials. The milestone comes five months after the rover's public unveiling at the Paris Air Show and advances Europe's lunar surface capabilities.

Discovered 2025-12-14T11:46:24.304181-08:00 | 2025-12-14T11:46:24.304181-08:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

The campaign shows a commercial European rover achieving key mobility and operations milestones at ESA's dedicated lunar training facility, reinforcing in‑house test capability demonstrated by ESA's recent full‑scale lunar lander simulation (https://hype.aero/?story=a9bc5c43-8a1b-4480-be28-264fa4925ade).
MONA LUNA's progress complements major programme moves in Europe, including ESA's selection of an all‑European consortium for the €600m Argonaut lunar lander, signalling industrial momentum for lunar surface missions (https://hype.aero/?story=bdb12ddd-b39a-4321-8478-e419bcce7c1a).
The test campaign aligns with broader policy and programme efforts to establish a sustained lunar presence, providing early mobility data relevant to mission design, GNC and surface operations planning (https://hype.aero/?story=818c4456-ebd5-4e4d-8dee-504a4db9762c).

Reported By

aerospaceglobalnews.com SpaceWatch Global aeromorning.com air-cosmos.com