Canada cancels its 1st moon rover: 'It's hopefully not a lost cause'

A prototype of a Canadian lunar rover in testing at the Canadian Space Agency, on moon-like terrain.

Canada will cancel its first rover mission to the moon's south pole as the Canadian government shifts its spending to other projects.

The water-seeking moon rover project, first announced by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 2021, is terminated in the department's spending plan for 2026-27. The news comes as NASA — a major CSA partner — makes big changes to its Artemis program of lunar exploration, including putting a long-planned moon-orbiting space station on hiatus to focus on a base on the surface.