As part of Pittsburgh-based Astrobotics Griffin Mission One, the company will work with Venturi Astrolab to deliver an Astrolab rover to the moon.
Using Astrobotic’s Griffin lander, the companies will deploy the FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform at the Nobile region of the lunar south pole. The delivery is scheduled for the end of 2025. The mission was originally to carry the VIPER payload as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
“Astrobotic received worldwide interest from dozens of organizations eager to fly aboard Griffin-1, and we conducted a rigorous selection process to identify the mission partner that aligned best with our timeline and Griffin’s capabilities,” John Thornton, Astrobotic’s founder and CEO, said. “Astrolab shares our vision of making lunar science, exploration, and commercial activity both accessible and transformative. By deploying the FLIP rover on Griffin-1, we are advancing humanity’s future on the Moon and enabling groundbreaking U.S. technology demonstrations at the lunar South Pole.”
In July, NASA announced the discontinuation of the VIPER project due to funding constraints, future budget risks and lander delays. The NASA CLPS contract to deliver VIPER to the moon was modified to serve as a large lander demonstration flight. Astrobotic’s Griffin lander will instead fly a load similar in mass to VIPER to the South Pole region of the moon, using Astrolab’s FLIP rover. FLIP will demonstrate core components and subsystems introduced in 2022.
“By joining Griffin Mission One, we will gather key insights into how lunar rovers like FLIP and FLEX operate in real lunar conditions,” Jaret Matthews, founder and CEO of Astrolab, said. “Bringing FLIP to the Moon offers an opportunity to demonstrate and test many of the critical technologies that will advance the commercial FLEX vehicle, including full-sized batteries, tires, critical avionics systems, sensors, and software.”