To Deploy Near Lunar South Pole Near End Of This Year

Venturi Astrolab’s FLIP rover will be the primary payload aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin-1 Moon landing mission currently scheduled for the end of 2025 under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLSP) program. Griffin-1 was originally planned to deliver the VIPER rover but that project was shelved, only to be recently brought back to life by NASA.

The rover will be deployed in the Nobile Region near the lunar south pole.

John Thornton, Founder and CEO of Astrobotic said, “Astrobotic received world-wide 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.

“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.”

The FLIP rover’s mass is nearly half a metric ton (~1,100 lb) and a payload capacity of 30 kg. It is designed to be compatible with medium-class lunar landers emerging in the commercial space market and offers customers the opportunity to perform technology demonstrations and commercial exploration in addition to science data gathering.

The FLIP rover also shares components, subsystems, and processes with the core platform of the Astrolab FLEX rover.

FMI:  www.astrolab.space/ , www.astrobotic.com/