Voyager Technologies has completed its acquisition of Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, a move that coincides with a new $298 million NASA contract to support the agency’s lunar exploration efforts.
The Denver-based space and defense company announced that Astrobotic will now operate as Voyager Lunar Systems, headquartered at Astrobotic’s Moon Base facility in Pittsburgh. Astrobotic CEO John Thornton will continue leading the business as part of Voyager’s executive team, while the company’s propulsion and testing operations will remain in Mojave, Calif.
“Astrobotic was built to make the moon accessible to the world and joining Voyager will hit the accelerator on that mission for our customers,” Thornton said. “As Voyager Lunar Systems, we’ll continue building capabilities that advance both American leadership in space and our national interests.”
The newly awarded NASA task order was announced June 30 under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. It was not part of the company’s profile at the time Voyager announced its intent to acquire Astrobotic June 2, which Voyager said underscored “the strategic timing and precision of the transaction.”
Under the contract, Voyager’s Peregrine-2 lunar lander is scheduled to launch in 2028, delivering three NASA payloads to the Gruithuisen Domes region on the moon’s near side. The mission will gather data to support future Artemis missions, including studies of the lunar radiation environment, landing plume interactions and navigation technologies.
The acquisition also adds to Voyager’s existing lunar portfolio. Griffin Mission One, another CLPS mission carrying NASA, European Space Agency and commercial payloads to the moon’s south pole, has been shipped from Pittsburgh to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for environmental testing ahead of a planned launch no earlier than November.