Astrolab is headed to the Moon this year with a rover-load of science payloads that will help future explorers better understand conditions at the lunar South Pole.
The company revealed some of the payloads flying onboard its FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform (FLIP) rover, including NASA funded research projects to study Moon regolith and map the lunar surface.
- A multicolor camera and radiometer from NASA’s Ames Research Center and Interlune to estimate the concentration of Helium-3 present in the lunar regolith.
- A laser retroreflector array from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which will provide precision tracking of the rover’s position without the need for power or maintenance.
- A lunar-dust-level sensor from JSC, which will quantify the impact of lunar regolith on lunar systems—such as solar arrays and radiators—to help future Moon architecture better withstand lunar conditions.
- A lunar LiDAR demonstrator from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to create high-resolution 3D maps of the lunar surface.
Relative scale: As Astrolab’s first mission to the lunar surface, FLIP will act as a building block for larger vehicles to fly more extensive missions in the years ahead. In addition to delivering NASA and commercial payloads to the Moon, the rover will also be collecting vital in-situ data to help Astrolab build toward its larger, more complex Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover.
FLEX is targeting future commercial and Artemis-program missions, and is designed to support astronaut operations, logistics, construction and more.
“We’re honored to deliver NASA’s instruments to the lunar surface,” Astrolab CEO Jaret Matthews said in a statement. “With FLIP, we can provide a nimble, mobile platform that enables multiple NASA investigations in one mission. Together, these efforts will help pave the way for Artemis astronauts to explore more of the Moon.”
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