News Archive / Tagged: Astrobotic

• Astrobotic selects Falcon Heavy to Launch VIPER Moon rover

  Nicholas D'AlessandroApril 15th, 2021

  Astrobotic announced it has selected SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch its Griffin medium-class lander to the Moon in 2023, carrying NASA's VIPER lunar rover.

• NASA TAPS ASTROBOTIC TO DELIVER VIPER ROVER TO THE MOON

  Michael ColeJune 16th, 2020

  NASA awarded a nearly $200 million contract Thursday to Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, to deliver NASA’s VIPER rover to a destination at the moon’s south pole in 2023.

• NASA Administrator reveals new commercial plan to explore the Moon

  Jason RhianNovember 29th, 2018

  NASA is working with commercial partners in an effort to produce a lunar transport "market," one designed to further enable scientific exploration of the Moon.

• Astrobotic spins out CubeRover, opens offices in Luxembourg

  Joe LatrellOctober 2nd, 2018

  CubeRover is eyeing the use of a small rover for lunar exploration. In the case of exploring the Moon, is smaller really better?

• Astrobotic awarded NASA contracts to develop lunar lander technologies

  Michael ColeAugust 22nd, 2018

  NASA recently awarded Astrobotic two contracts that could help move the Pittsburgh-based company closer to making its first lunar landing. The contracts are for developing technologies for the company's Peregrine lander, but could possibly make lunar landings easier and more accessible to others in the future.

• Dynetics tapped to produce propulsion system for Peregrine lunar lander

  Jason RhianJuly 31st, 2018

  Astrobotic has announced that it has chosen Dynetics to provide the propulsion system for the company's Peregrine lunar lander. 

• Lunar XPRIZE competition continuing without cash reward

  Collin SkocikMay 10th, 2018

  The Lunar XPRIZE, a competition among various teams to land a robot on the Moon, is proceeding even though Google is no longer sponsoring the project. As of April 5, 2018, it is operating as a non-cash competition.

• Astrobotic ready to become delivery service to the Moon

  Michael ColeMarch 19th, 2018

  PITTSBURGH, Pa. --  Not far from downtown Pittsburgh is a somewhat drab commercial area of nondescript brick and concrete buildings, dating back to the days of when steel machine companies ruled the town. Notably, the former site of Westinghouse, where the original air brake was developed. Today, no passersby would suspect that one of these buildings houses a lab for a small fleet of spacecraft and rovers designed to go to the Moon.

• First-ever laser communications terminal to be tested on the Moon

  Tomasz NowakowskiJuly 25th, 2017

  ATLAS Space Operations Inc., a company specializing in cloud-based satellite management and control services, has announced that it will test the first-ever laser communications terminal on the lunar surface. The company has recently signed a contract with Astrobotic Technology Inc., which could see their system fly to the Moon in late 2019.

• Kit Grabbe: Astrobotic on path to affordable commercial access to the Moon

  Tomasz NowakowskiJune 6th, 2017

  Pittsburgh-based space robotics company Astrobotic Technology, Inc., is accelerating its work on the Peregrine lander designed to deliver payloads to the Moon. The company has recently hired space veteran Kit Grabbe, who will oversee the development of the Peregrine Lunar Lander system.

• Grabbe joins Astrobotic’s team

  Jason RhianMay 24th, 2017

  Google Lunar X PRIZE contestant Astrobotic, at one time considered by many to be the frontrunner in the effort to land the first commercial rover on the surface of the Moon (they have since dropped out of the contest), has tapped Kit Grabbe to serve as the organization's Principal Systems Engineer.

• Team Indus joins Google Lunar X-Prize finalists, Astrobotic drops out

  Collin SkocikDecember 23rd, 2016

  One of the prerequisites of staying in the Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP) is securing a contract with a launch service provider. India-based Team Indus has successfully done that by contracting with the manufacturer of the country’s PSLV rocket. At the same time, Astrobotic, the first team to secure a contract back in 2011, announced that it is dropping out of the competition after losing its window with SpaceX's Falcon 9.

• Google Lunar X PRIZE: Creating a new generation of lunar landers

  SpaceFlight InsiderMay 11th, 2015

  The last crewed mission to the Moon took place more than four decades ago, and ever since, humanity seems to have a new target in its sights – Mars. Private industry on the other hand has been working diligently to explore more of the lunar surface. With the help of Google’s Lunar X PRIZE, four companies are developing […]