NASA will use Drone.UA robots to prepare for lunar exploration — the manufacturer was spotted at CES-2025

The other day, the head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation announced that Ukraine’s Drone.UA had delivered a batch of ground robots to NASA, and now Forbes Ukraine revealed some details of the cooperation.

Drone.UA — is a Ukrainian group of companies that is an international system integrator of unmanned solutions, robotics and energy independence systems. Its clients include DTEK energy holding, Metinvest» mining and metals group, MHP agricultural holding, and Vodafone mobile operator, and it has more than 100 large and small government contracts in the United States. In 2024, Drone.UA’s revenue amounted to $135 million, 2.5 times more than in 2023.

NASA spotted the Ukrainian company at CES-2025, took its contacts, and later contacted it to conclude a deal. Recently, Drone.UA sent the space agency a small test batch of ground-based robotic systems, and plans to start mass production.

The company does not disclose the name of the developments, as well as the amount of the deal, due to the NDA, but notes that they created these systems only in 2024.

NASA uses ground robots to prepare for space missions, explore other planets or the Earth’s surface. Andriy Kolesnyk, former advisor to the head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU), told Forbes that in this case, it is «about exploring hard-to-reach areas of the Moon».

NASA has several types of robots in its arsenal, including K10 for exploration on the surface of the Moon and Mars, RASSOR for resource extraction, Grover for collecting data on glaciers in Greenland, etc. The agency is also considering the use of robots to carry out missions to search for ice deposits and its processing into oxygen.

Drone.UA’s next plans include the launch of a new robotic platform weighing up to two tons in May 2025 — it will be manufactured in the United States, and the company is considering the platform as a potential next delivery for NASA testing.