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takyon writes:

Astrobotic wins NASA award to produce small lunar rover

Astrobotic, in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, has been selected by NASA to receive a Phase II SBIR award to develop a small lunar rover capable of carrying on small scale science and exploration on the Moon and other planetary surfaces.

Astrobotic's CubeRover should weigh in at approximately 4.4 lbs (2 kg). It is designed to utilize its lunar payload delivery service to provide NASA and potential other customers accessibility to the lunar surface at a very low cost.

Following up on the success of Cubesats, the deployment of which opened up satellite access to non-government entities such as smaller scale companies and universities, it is hoped that the CubeRover will use a standardized architecture allowing other members of the space exploration community to develop new systems and instruments that are all compatible with the CubeRover's architecture.

See also: Astrobotic ready to become delivery service to the Moon

Original Submission

takyon writes:

NASA awards contracts to three companies to land payloads on the moon

NASA announced May 31 the award of more than $250 million in contracts to three companies to deliver NASA payloads to the lunar surface by 2021.

The agency said it awarded contracts to Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and OrbitBeyond to carry up to 23 payloads to the moon on three commercial lunar lander missions scheduled for launch between September 2020 and July 2021. The three companies were selected for these task orders from the nine companies that received Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) awards in November 2018.

[...] OrbitBeyond is the first of the three scheduled to fly, with the company currently planning to launch its Z-01 lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in Septmber 2020. The New Jersey-based company, which has ties to India's TeamIndus, a former Google Lunar X Prize team, received $97 million from NASA to fly up to four payloads on a lander scheduled to touch down on Mare Imbrium.

Astrobotic plans to launch its Peregrine lander in June 2021, landing in July. The company had previously announced plans to fly the payload as a secondary payload on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5, but John Thornton, chief executive of Astrobotic, said on the NASA webcast that the company was "assessing our launch options and making a decision very shortly." The company received $79.5 million for carrying up to 14 payloads to the crater Lacus Mortis.

Intuitive Machines plan to launch its Nova-C lander on a Falcon 9 in July 2021, landing on the moon six and a half days later. The Houston-based company received $77 million to carry up to four payloads on its lander, which will touch down on Oceanus Procellarum or Mare Serenitatis.

Also at NYT and The Verge.

Previously: NASA Opens the Floodgates for Firms With Planetary Ambitions

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

New Atlas:

The MoonRanger project is being led by William "Red" Whittaker, director of the CMU's Field Robotics Center. This is the third lunar research mission awarded to Whittaker by NASA since June of this year.

The new rover will be about the size of a suitcase and weigh roughly 24 lb (11 kg), though it will be very fast as rovers go and enjoy a high degree of autonomy as it makes detailed 3D maps of the lunar terrain. Because the MoonRanger is too small to send radio signals directly to Earth it will gather data independently and then upload it to the Astrobotic lander, which will deliver the rover to the surface. The lander will then relay the data to mission control.

Water they hoping to find?

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Astrobotic's latest update is optimistic, all things considered:

All may not be lost for Astrobotic's Peregrine moon lander.

Soon after launching on the first-ever flight of United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket on Monday (Jan. 8), the lander encountered an anomaly due to a stuck valve in its propulsion system, damaging the spacecraft and causing a significant propellant leak. The company announced on Tuesday (Jan. 9) that a soft lunar landing would be impossible in light of those issues.

Yet on Thursday (Jan. 11), Astrobotic issued its 12th mission update via X, indicating that, despite the crippling propulsion system anomaly, there's some good news. Peregrine was able to power up its payloads — the ones that require power, anyway — and establish connections to ground teams using NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) of communication antennas.

"As Peregrine emerges from a planned communications blackout with NASA's DSN ground network, we're pleased to announce the team's efforts to gather payload data have been fruitful," Astrobotic wrote on X. "We have successfully received data from all 9 payloads designed to communicate with the lander. All 10 payloads requiring power have received it, while the remaining 10 payloads aboard the spacecraft are passive."

It's unclear if any of those payloads will be able to complete the missions for which they were designed, but Astrobotic's update is relatively optimistic. "These payloads have now been able to prove operational capability in space, and payload teams are analyzing the impact of this development now. We are proud of the mission team for achieving this incredible feat under such challenging circumstances."

Accompanying the update is a photograph taken by Peregrine in which the wheels of the tiny Iris lunar rover, built by Carnegie Mellon University, can be seen.