Just under the surface of the Moon, subterranean caverns stretch out thousands of feet (hundreds of meters) in diameter—some as much as 1,000 times more vast than similar lava tubes carved out by volcanic activity here on Earth. Scientists have long schemed about refurbishing these lunar caves into sites for exploratory bases on the Moon, given the caves’ natural protection from cosmic radiation beneath thick layers of regolith and cooled magma. And now, after decades of more speculative and long-distance research, it looks like NASA is putting its money where its mouth is. The U.S. space agency announced that it will fund research by Austin-based Stone Aerospace, Inc. to develop a tethered lunar-spelunking drone—powered via laser light that will be beamed through a system of fiber optic cables conjoining it to a lunar rover on the Moon’s surface. This power-over-fiber (PoF) design, according to NASA’s announcement, will manage the neat trick of meeting three critical needs for this mission: It will act as a typical broadband fiber-optic cable, assuring high-speed data transmission around otherwise impenetrable rock; it will provide onboard electrical power; and it will provide laser-enhanced thrust for the drone’s “non-polluting cold-gas propulsion system.”