Astrobotic Technology

In April 2011, Astrobotic contracted with SpaceX for a Falcon 9 launch of a lunar north pole mission for as early as December 2013. The mission was intended to launch the Griffin lander and deliver "a small rover and up to about 240 pounds (110 kg) of payload to the surface of the Moon".[25][26] The launch date slipped to 2015, and it was first named Polar Excavator, and then Icebreaker, that would target the lunar north pole.[27] This expedition's rover was to be Polaris.[28][29] A model of the Polaris rover was unveiled in October 2012,[30] and the company indicated that they were still under contract to SpaceX for a Falcon 9 mission.[31] The launch date further slipped to 2016, and Astrobotic contracted with two other GLXP teams including Team Hakuto and Team AngelicvM to share the launch expenses. The agreement was to launch the rovers of all teams on a single SpaceX Falcon 9 which would then use the Astrobotic Griffin lander. After landing on the lunar surface, all teams would have competed against each other to achieve the specific GLXP objectives and earn the various prices.[32][33] The Griffin lander was never built, and Icebreaker mission was not launched.

In July 2017, Astrobotic announced an agreement had been reached with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch their Peregrine lander aboard a Vulcan rocket.[34] The Mission One is planned to be launched in July 2021.[34][2]

By May 2019, its first lunar lander mission, simply called Mission One, had 14 commercial payloads including small rovers from Hakuto, Team AngelicvM,[35] and a larger rover from the Carnegie Mellon University named Andy that has a mass of 33 kilograms (73 lb) and is 103 cm tall.[36] An unusual miniature rover (1.5 kilograms (3.3 lb)) called Spacebit is included, and it moves on four legs.[37][38][39] It is a technological demonstrator and will travel a distance of at least 10 metres (33 ft).[40] Other payloads aboard the lander is a library, in micro print on nickel, which will include Wikipedia contents and Long Now Foundation's Rosetta Project.[41][42]

On 29 November 2018, Astrobotic was made eligible to bid on NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon,[17] and in May 2019, it was awarded its first lander contract for NASA.[43][44] Therefore, in addition of the 14 commercial payloads, the lander will carry 14 NASA-sponsored payloads, for a total of 28.[45]

Peregrine will carry a maximum payload mass of 90 kilograms (200 lb) during Mission One,[46] and it is planned to land on Lacus Mortis, a relatively flat plateau at 44°N 25°E, and operate for about 8 Earth days.[24] The payload mass for the planned second mission (Mission Two) is capped at 175 kilograms (386 lb), and the M3 and later missions would carry the full payload capacity of 265 kilograms (584 lb).[24]

Peregrine

Peregrine model
Manufacturer	Astrobotic Technology
Designer	Astrobotic Technology and Airbus Defence and Space
Country of origin	United States
Operator	Astrobotic Technology
Applications	Commercial lunar transport
Specifications
Spacecraft type	Cruise, lunar orbit and surface operations
Design life	One lunar day
Launch mass	Mission 1: 1,283 kilograms (2,829 lb) [24]
Payload capacity	up to 265 kilograms (584 lb)
Power	30 watts
Batteries	Lithium-ion
Dimensions
Length	1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in)
Diameter	2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in)
Production
Status	In development
Launched	0

The Peregrine lander was announced in 2016.[15] It inherits designs from their previous concept lander called Griffin, which was larger but with the same payload capacity.[15][47] Astrobotic had contracted Airbus Defence and Space to provide additional engineering support as they refine the lander's design.

Peregrine's bus structure is mainly manufactured out of aluminum alloy, and it is reconfigurable for specific missions. Its propulsion system features a cluster of five thrusters, built by Frontier Aerospace.[48] Each thruster produces 667 N thrust. This propulsion system would propel the trans-lunar injection, trajectory corrections, lunar orbit insertion, and powered descent. The propulsion system is capable of delivering an orbiter to the Moon and then performing a powered soft landing.[24] The lander would carry up to 450 kilograms (990 lb) of bi-propellant mass in four tanks; its composition is MON-25 /MMH, a hypergolic bi-propellant.[49] For attitude control (orientation), the spacecraft uses twelve thrusters (45 N each) also powered by MON-25/MMH.[24]

The spacecraft's avionics systems incorporate guidance and navigation to the Moon, and a Doppler LiDAR to assist the automated landing on four legs.[15] Its landing ellipse is 24 km × 6 km.[24] Peregrine is about 2.5 m wide and 1.9 m tall, and it would be able to deliver up to 265 kilograms (584 lb) of payload to the surface of the Moon.[15][50][24][51]

Its electrical systems will be powered by a lithium-ion battery that is recharged by a solar panel made of GaInP/GaAs/Ge. Radiators and thermal insulators are used to dispose of excess heat, but the lander does not carry heaters, so the first few Peregrine landers are not expected to survive the lunar night,[24] which lasts 14 Earth days. Future missions could be adapted to do so.[24]

For communications to Earth, the lander uses different frequencies within the X-band range for uplink as well as downlink.[24] Following landing, a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi modem enables wireless communication between the lander and deployed rovers on the lunar surface.[24]

NASA's VIPER will be landed on the larger Griffin lander (450 kg).[52]

Astrobotic has a line of three rovers called Polaris, CubeRover, and MoonRanger.[53]

• The Polaris rover was unveiled in October 2012,[54][55][56] and it was to be used on a now cancelled mission called Icebreaker to the lunar north pole using their Griffin lander and deliver "a small rover and up to about 240 pounds (110 kg) of payload to the surface of the Moon".[57][58]

• 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.[59] The rover class concept is being developed by Astrobotic Technology in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, and it is partly funded by NASA awards.[59] The Principal Investigator of the program is Andrew Horchler. The first derivative of a CubeRover, a spinoff rover called Iris developed by CMU students, is planned to be deployed on the Moon in 2021 on board Astrobotic's Peregrine lander.[60][61][2][62]

• MoonRanger is a 13 kilograms (29 lb) rover being developed to carry payloads on the Moon for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). The US$5.6 million contract was awarded to Astrobotic and its partner Carnegie Mellon University on 1 July 2019.[53][63] Launch is envisioned for either 2021 or 2022.[63][64] The rover will carry science payloads yet to be determined and developed by other providers, that will focus on scouting and creating 3D maps of a polar region for signs of water ice or lunar pits for entrances to Moon caves.[64][65] The rover would operate mostly autonomously for up to one week.[65]