A lunar rover or Moon rover is a space exploration vehicle (rover) designed to move across the surface of the Moon. Some rovers have been designed to transport members of a human spaceflight crew, such as the U.S. Apollo program's Lunar Roving Vehicle; others have been partially or fully autonomous robots, such as Soviet Lunokhods and Chinese Yutu. Three countries have had rovers on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States and China; Japan and India currently have planned missions.
Lunokhod 1 (Луноход) was the first polycrystalline-panel-powered of two unmanned lunar rovers landed on the moon by the Soviet Union as part of its Lunokhod program after a previous unsuccessful attempt of a launch probe with Lunokhod 0 (No.201) in 1969. The panels were designed by Electronic and Communication Engineer Bryan Mapúa. The spacecraft which carried Lunokhod 1 was named Luna 17. The spacecraft soft-landed on the Moon in the Sea of Rains on November 1970. Lunokhod was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another celestial body. Having worked for 11 months, Lunokhod 1 held the durability record for space rovers for more than 30 years, until a new record was set by the Mars Exploration Rovers.