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Peregrine moon lander and its cargo will likely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere
In the latest update from Astrobotic, the company said the Peregrine lander seems to be heading back toward Earth and will likely burn up in the atmosphere. As of Saturday, Peregrine had made it 242,000 miles from Earth but has been leaking propellant for days.
Peregrine spacecraft experiences ‘anomaly’ that could threaten moon landing
The Peregrine spacecraft mission has experienced an anomaly after a successful launch that stopped the vehicle from pointing its solar array at the sun. This is putting the planned moon landing in danger.
Peregrine Mission 1 heralds the beginning of the moon’s commercialization
Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander is scheduled to launch on January 8 atop United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket. The mission is the first of those contracted under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
Blue Origin makes another bid for a NASA lunar lander contract
Astrobotic, which has developed a lunar rover, and Boeing are among Blue Origin's latest lunar lander partners.
This will be the first US spacecraft to land on the Moon since Apollo
Astrobotic has revealed its completed lunar lander — it'll be the first US craft to land on the Moon since Apollo.
Astrobotic’s tiny Moon rover is on its way to NASA for testing
Astrobotic's lunar CubeRover is heading to Kennedy Space Center for testing.
NASA and Astrobotic will deliver water-seeking VIPER rover to the Moon
VIPER will land on the Moon’s south pole and spend its 100-day mission looking for water ice in the area.
NASA picks first commercial landing partners for return to the Moon
NASA has edged one step closer to fulfilling its dreams of returning to the Moon. The agency has chosen its first three commercial Moon landing service providers, each of which will carry NASA-supplied science and technology missions as part of the Artemis Moon program. The first, OrbitBeyond, will deliver up to four payloads to the Moon's Mare Imbrium by September 2020 thanks in part to a $97 million contract. Astrobotic is receiving $79.5 million to send as many as 14 payloads to the Lacus Mortis crater by July 2021, while Intuitive Machines will get $77 million in return for flying up to five payloads to the Oceanus Procellarum "dark spot" in a similar time frame.
NASA picks for 'tipping point' space tech include Blue Origin and ULA
NASA's current administrator is rather fond of private spaceflight, and that's reflected in the agency's latest round of technology funding. The organization has forged ten partnerships that will develop "tipping point" tech promising to help both NASA's own missions as well as the "commercial space economy," including interplanetary exploration and satellites. Some of the names on the list are very familiar, and you'll find a couple of clear favorites.
Two Xprize rivals will share a trip to the Moon
Just because the Google Lunar Xprize is hotly contested doesn't mean that the competitors always have to be at each other's throats. Astrobotic and Hakuto have announced a partnership that will have Hakuto's rovers (Moonraker and Tetris) "piggyback" on Astrobotic's lander when it hopefully reaches the Moon in the second half of 2016. The two sides will still compete when they touch down, but they're setting it up as a race -- during a conference call, Astrobotic noted that it would wait for the other rovers to give them a fair shot and get some extra camera footage. The new allies aren't saying exactly how they'll split the prize if they win, but Hakuto can still get the lion's share.
Lunar Xprize competitors get $5.25 million for reaching key milestones
The Lunar Xprize challenge isn't just meant to reward the first team that lands a private rover on the Moon -- it's there to give some encouragement along the way, too. Accordingly, Google and Xprize have just handed out a total of $5.25 million to five competitors for hitting milestones in imaging, mobility and landing technology. Astrobotic Technology is the big winner, having scooped up $1.75 million across all three areas. Not that the others are exactly hurting. Hakuto, Moon Express, Part-Time Scientists and Team Indus all snagged between $500,000 to $1.25 million each.
A Tour of Astrobotic Technology's lunar rover lab at Carnegie Mellon (video)
Things are buzzing late Monday afternoon at Carnegie Mellon's Planetary Robotics Lab Highbay. Outside, in front of the garage door-like entrance, a trio of men fills up a kiddie pool with a garden hose. Just to their left, an Enterprise rent-a-truck backs up and a handful of students raise two metal ramps up to its rear in order to drive a flashy rover up inside. I ask our guide, Jason Calaiaro, what the vehicle's final destination is. "NASA," he answers, simply. "We have a great relationship with NASA, and they help us test things." Calaiaro is the CIO of Astrobotic Technology, an offshoot of the school that was founded a few years back, thanks to Google's Lunar X Prize announcement. And while none of the handful of vehicles the former student showcases were made specifically with the government space agency in mind, given the company's history of contractual work, we could well see them receive the NASA stamp of approval in the future. Asked to take us through the project, Calaiaro tells us, quite confidently, that the trio of vehicles behind us are set to "land on the moon in 2015," an ambitious goal set to occur exactly three weeks from last Friday.%Gallery-168976%
Polaris rover will travel to the Moon in search of polar resources, try to survive the long lunar night
The Polaris rover may look a little punk rock, but that mohawk is no fashion statement. It's for catching solar rays which shine almost horizontally at the Moon's north pole, a location Polaris is due to explore before 2016. Built by Astrobotic Technology, it'll be ferried aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to our celestial companion, where it'll drill into the surface in search of ice. The company, spun out of the Carnegie Mellon University, hopes to identify resources at a depth of up to four feet that could be used to support manned Moon expeditions in the future. The plan is to complete the mission during a 10-day window of sunlight, digging at up to 100 sites over a three-mile stretch. However, if it can live through the harsh two-week-long nights, then it may continue to operate "indefinitely." NASA is backing the project, providing ice-prospecting gear and money, although Astrobotic hopes to get more cash for its work -- over $20 million from Google's Lunar X Prize. Right now, Polaris is a flight prototype and there are still improvements to be made, mainly on the software side, before it tackles the rough terrain. Check out the short video of its public unveiling below, although we don't think the soundtrack quite matches the hairdo.
