Company type | Private company |
---|---|
Industry | |
Founded | 2007 |
Founder | John P. Thornton Red Whittaker |
Headquarters | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Key people |
|
Products |
|
Number of employees | 130 (As of 2023 [update] ) |
Website | www |
Astrobotic Technology inc., commonly referred to as Astrobotic [1] is an American private company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions. It was founded in 2007 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize. [2] The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their first launch occurred on January 8, 2024, [3] as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The launch carried the company's Peregrine lunar lander on board the first flight of the Vulcan Centaur rocket from Florida's Space Force Station LC-41. [4] The mission was unable to reach the Moon for a soft or hard landing. [5] On June 11, 2020, Astrobotic received a second contract for the CLPS program. NASA will pay Astrobotic US$199.5 million to take the VIPER rover to the Moon, targeting a landing in November 2024. [6]
In 2007, the team declared its goal to be the first commercial operation to land on the Moon. [7] That year, the company completed a running prototype of a spacecraft called Red Rover; they also renamed their concept lander from Artemis Lander to Griffin. [8]
On July 28, 2008, NASA gave money to Astrobotic for a concept study on "regolith moving methods". [9] The next year, Astrobotic began to receive Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from NASA totaling over US$795,000 to investigate prospecting for lunar resources, [10] which eventually led to a concept called Polar Excavator.
On October 15, 2010, NASA awarded a contract to Astrobotic for Innovative Lunar Demonstrations Data (ILDD) firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a total value up to US$30.1 million over up to five years, and in December 2010, NASA's US$500,000 ILDD project for further Lunar Demonstrations Data was awarded to Astrobotic. [11]
Astrobotic's proposal "Technologies Enabling Exploration of Skylights, Lava Tubes, and Caves" was a Phase I selection for NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC). [12] In April 2011, Astrobotic received a US$599,000 two-year contract to develop a scalable gravity offload device for testing rover mobility in simulated lunar gravity under NASA's Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR). [13]
In May 2012, David Gump left the position of President of Astrobotic and John Thornton took his place. [14]
On April 30, 2014, NASA announced that Astrobotic Technology was one of the three companies selected for the Lunar CATALYST initiative. [15] NASA was negotiating a 3-year no-funds-exchanged Space Act Agreement (SAA) where the Griffin lander may be involved. [16] The CATALYST agreement was extended in October 2017 for 2 years. [17]
On June 2, 2016, Astrobotic Technology announced a new design of its Griffin concept lander and named it Peregrine. [18] Airbus Defence and Space signed a memorandum of understanding to provide engineering support for Astrobotic as it refines the lander's design. In December 2016, Astrobotic slipped their estimated launch date to 2019 and separated from the Google Lunar X Prize. [19]
On November 29, 2018, Astrobotic was declared eligible to bid on NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon. [20] Astrobotic's successful bid drew a US$79.5 million contract to deliver payloads to Lacus Mortis. Astrobotic set an initial target of 14 payloads to launch starting in July 2021. [21] [22]
In September 2019, Spacebit signed an agreement to deliver the first UK lunar rover Asagumo on Astrobotic's upcoming mission in 2021 and named this "Spacebit mission one". [23] [24]
On September 25, 2019, John Thornton of Astrobotic was named CEO of the Year by the Pittsburgh Technology Council at the 23rd annual Tech50 awards ceremony. [25] [26]
On January 24, 2021, MrBeast, a YouTuber, said that he would place a payload on the Peregrine lander: a hard drive containing large numbers of digital image files submitted by anyone who contributed US$10 via his online store. [27] [28]
In June 2021, the maiden flight of Vulcan Centaur, carrying the first Peregrine lander as its payload, was delayed to 2022 due to payload and engine testing delays. [29]
In November 2021, Astrobotic Technology was named one of the "World's Best Employers in the Space Industry" by Everything Space, a recruitment platform specializing in the space industry. [30]
Problems with ground systems during the wet dress rehearsal on December 8, 2023, delayed the maiden flight of the Vulcan Centaur until 2024. [31]
The Peregrine lander was launched on January 8, 2024, from Florida's Space Force Station LC-41, aboard the maiden flight of Vulcan Centaur. [3] [4] A propellant leak prevented it from reaching the Moon for a soft or hard landing. [5] The mission was never able to leave its original (highly elliptical) Earth orbit and it ended with a controlled reentry into the Earth's atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean on January 18, 2024. [32] [33]
Peregrine Mission One, or the Peregrine Lunar Lander, was a lunar lander built by Astrobotic Technology, that was selected through NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). It was launched on January 8, 2024 by United Launch Alliance (ULA) aboard a Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle. [48] The lander carried multiple payloads, with total payload mass capacity of 90 kg. [49]
Peregrine carried a maximum payload mass of 90 kg (200 lb) during Mission One, [50] and it was planned to land on Gruithuisen Gamma. [51] [52] The payload mass for the planned second mission (Mission Two) is capped at 175 kg (386 lb), and the Mission Three and later missions would carry the full payload capacity of 265 kg (584 lb). [51]
The Peregrine mission was unable to reach the Moon for a soft or hard landing. [5] The mission was never able to leave its original (highly elliptical) Earth orbit and it ended with a controlled reentry into the Earth's atmosphere on January 18, 2024. [53] [ better source needed ]
The Griffin lander is targeted to land in a region of interest in the Moon's south polar region in November 2024. [6] The spacecraft is expected to operate for 100 days after its landing. NASA's VIPER rover will be the main payload on the larger Griffin lander (450 kg). [54] VIPER will investigate permanently shadowed regions of craters located in the Moon's south pole, specifically for potential deposits of water ice that could be used as resources for future crewed missions. Other commercial payloads are on board the Griffin lander, including the Lunar Codex's Polaris archive of contemporary culture as one of the commercial sub-payloads of Astrobotics' MoonBox initiative. [55]
In March 2024, Astrobotic hired several industry leaders to assist with the Griffin lander after the failure of the Peregrine lander. [56]
it is planned to be launched in 2026.
CubeRover is a class of planetary rovers with a standardized format meant to accelerate the pace of space exploration. The idea is equivalent to that of the successful CubeSat format, with a standardized architecture to assemble new units that will be all compatible, modular, and inexpensive. [57] The rover class concept is being developed by Astrobotic Technology in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, and it is partly funded by NASA awards. [57] The principal investigator of the program is Andrew Horchler. The first derivative of a CubeRover, a spinoff rover called Iris, developed by CMU students, was planned to be deployed on the Moon [29] on board Astrobotic's Peregrine lander, but was lost with Peregrine's reentry and never deployed. [58] [59] [60] [61] [62]
United Launch Alliance, LLC, commonly referred to as ULA, is an American aerospace manufacturer, defense contractor and launch service provider that manufactures and operates rockets that launch spacecraft into Earth orbit and on trajectories to other bodies in the Solar System. ULA also designed and builds the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for the Space Launch System (SLS).
The Google Lunar X Prize (GLXP) was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. The challenge called for privately funded teams to be the first to land a lunar rover on the Moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit back to Earth high-definition video and images.
Hakuto (ハクト) or formerly White Label Space (ホワイトレーベルスペース) was a team formed in early 2008 by a group of experienced space professionals inspired by the challenge of the Google Lunar X PRIZE to develop a robotic Moon exploration mission.
A lunar rover or Moon rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of the Moon. The Apollo program's Lunar Roving Vehicle was driven on the Moon by members of three American crews, Apollo 15, 16, and 17. Other rovers have been partially or fully autonomous robots, such as the Soviet Union's Lunokhods, Chinese Yutus, Indian Pragyan, and Japan's LEVs. Five countries have had operating rovers on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India, and Japan.
The Lunar CATALYST initiative is an attempt by NASA to encourage the development of robotic lunar landers that can be integrated with United States commercial launch capabilities to deliver payloads to the lunar surface.
Vulcan Centaur is a two-stage-to-orbit, expendable, heavy-lift launch vehicle created and operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA). It is principally designed for the United States Space Force's National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, which launches satellites for the Defense Department and U.S. intelligence agencies. It will replace ULA's existing heavy-lift Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy rockets. Vulcan Centaur will also be used for commercial launches, including an order for 38 launches from Kuiper Systems.
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to hire companies to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon. Most landing sites are near the lunar south pole where they will scout for lunar resources, test in situ resource utilization (ISRU) concepts, and perform lunar science to support the Artemis lunar program. CLPS is intended to buy end-to-end payload services between Earth and the lunar surface using fixed-price contracts. The program was extended to add support for large payloads starting after 2025.
Team AngelicvM is a private company based in Chile that plans to deploy a small rover on the Moon. Their rover, called Unity, is one of various rovers that will be carried by the commercial Peregrine lander manufactured by Astrobotic Technology.
The Intuitive Machines Nova-C, or simply Nova-C, is a class of lunar landers designed by Intuitive Machines (IM) to deliver small payloads to the surface of the Moon. Intuitive Machines was one of three service providers awarded task orders in 2019 for delivery of NASA science payloads to the Moon. The IM-1 lunar lander, named Odysseus, was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 15 February 2024, reached lunar orbit on 21 February, and landed on the lunar surface on 22 February. This marked the inaugural Nova-C landing on the Moon and the first American spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon in over 50 years. It is the first spacecraft to use methalox propulsion to navigate between the Earth and the Moon.
CubeRover is a class of planetary rover with a standardized modular format meant to accelerate the pace of space exploration. The idea is equivalent to that of the successful CubeSat format, with standardized off-the-shelf components and architecture to assemble small units that will be all compatible, modular, and inexpensive.
The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program that is led by the United States' National Aeronoautics and Space Administration (NASA) and was formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The Artemis program is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 moon mission in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.
Peregrine Lunar Lander flight 01, commonly referred to as Peregrine Mission One, was an unsuccessful American lunar lander mission. The lander, dubbed Peregrine, was built by Astrobotic Technology and carried payloads for the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Peregrine Mission One launched on 8 January 2024, at 2:18 am EST, on the maiden flight of the Vulcan Centaur (Vulcan) rocket. The goal was to land the first U.S.-built lunar lander on the Moon since the crewed Apollo Lunar Module on Apollo 17 in 1972.
VIPER is a lunar rover developed by NASA, and currently planned to be delivered to the surface of the Moon in November 2024.The rover will be tasked with prospecting for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas in the lunar south pole region, especially by mapping the distribution and concentration of water ice. The mission builds on a previous NASA rover concept called Resource Prospector, which was cancelled in 2018.
MoonArk is a Moon museum made by Carnegie Mellon University which was launched onboard the Astrobotic Technologies Peregrine lunar lander. It is mounted to the main deck of the lander.
DHL MoonBox was a mementos box that was launched to the Moon on Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine Lunar Lander in 2024. 151 MoonBox capsules, also known as "Moonpods", were made by DHL, each containing items intended to be shipped to the lunar surface. The capsules measured up to 1 inch wide and 2 inches high, and contained items from the USA, UK, Canada, Nepal, Germany and Belgium. The items included stories written by children and a rock from Mount Everest. DHL also included a data stick which contained 100,000 images from those who responded to its "Who do you love to the moon and back?" campaign.
IM-2 is an upcoming lunar mission that will be carried out in 2024 jointly by a partnership between the NASA CLPS program and Intuitive Machines (IM), using a Nova-C lunar lander.
Memory of Mankind on the Moon was a time capsule that was launched onboard Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander. It was made in collaboration with Hungarian company Puli Space Technologies and Memory of Mankind.
Yaoki is a Moon rover made by Japanese company Dymon to be launched in 2023 by American company Astrobotic Technology on their Peregrine lunar lander. Yaoki was first announced in 2019.
Astrobotic: Headed by William 'Red' Whittaker of Carnegie Mellon University, the team expects their 'Artemis Lander' and 'Red Rover' spacecraft to touch down first on the moon
Astrobotic: Headed by William 'Red' Whittaker of Carnegie Mellon University, the team expects their 'Artemis Lander' and 'Red Rover' spacecraft to touch down first on the moon.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, a Carnegie Mellon University spin-off company, has signed a launch services contract with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) for a Falcon 9 launch vehicle to deliver a lander, small rover and up to about 240 lbs of payload to the surface of the Moon
planned to launch in late 2014 or early 2015