Spacebit's moon rover on display at the New Scientist Live event in London on October 10, 2019.

The U.K. is sending a space exploration rover to the moon, in what will be a first for the country.

The rover is a tiny four-legged robot developed by British start-up Spacebit. It has sensors that can take measurements and collect exploration data for researchers to analyze.

The robot also comes equipped with cameras — one of which can take "robot selfies" — and can withstand big swings in temperature, from 130 degrees Celsius (266 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day to minus 130 degrees Celsius at night.

It will also eventually be able to navigate through so-called lunar lava tubes, which are tunnels beneath the surface of the moon thought to have once been filled with lava. Spacebit says this is something that hasn't been achieved before.

The company signed an agreement with U.S. firm Astrobotic to launch its first mission in 2021 on Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander. The American lander will be launched on a Vulcan rocket from a site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.