Secretary of Commerce Kicks Off Manufacturing Day at Astrobotic

"Firms like Astrobotic & its suppliers demonstrate how American innovation & manufacturing are critical for well-paying jobs," tweeted Secretary Raimondo.

Secretary Raimondo and Mayor of Pittsburgh William Peduto toured Astrobotic's facility, drove a CubeRover, and saw new technologies the team is engineering. As we’ve seen in prior government investments, every dollar spent doesn’t go to space, it goes to local researchers, companies, and pioneers of the future.

Peregrine Mission One

“As we begin assembly, integration, and test of our Peregrine lunar lander, receipt of critical flight components like the flight battery, helium tanks, and propellant tanks keep our program on track for a mid-2022 launch," says Sharad Bhaskaran, Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One Director.

Carnegie Mellon University's MoonArk, the first museum project to go to the Moon, is now fully integrated with Peregrine Mission One's lander's decks.

The MoonArk project, "is a gift of life and hope to future humans embodied by all the arts, enlarging the lunar mission to ponder how the Moon stirs the tides, the growth patterns of life, the rhythms of society, and how the Moon always continues to pull us further into the heavens."

Griffin Mission One

A landing site has been selected for Griffin Mission 1!

“In 2023, NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will land near the western edge of the Nobile Crater at the Moon’s South Pole to map and explore the region’s surface and subsurface for water and other resources. Part of Artemis, VIPER will launch on a SpaceX Falcon-Heavy rocket for delivery to the Moon by Astrobotic’s Griffin lander under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative,” says NASA.gov.

Planetary Mobility

With three new hires this quarter, the Planetary Mobility team is gearing up to support four new contracts, with a focus on wireless charging and power generation capabilities for space applications and lunar power infrastructure. CubeRover has completed all functional and mobility testing, concluding with a full hardware performance report that was well received NASA. The department also made an appearance at NASA’s Game Changing Development Conference to share progress on the CubeRover and wireless charging product lines.

Space Tech

Over the past year, Astrobotic and Arizona State University (ASU) have been researching and developing proof of concept sensor processing techniques focused on novel imaging sensors called event cameras, which sense dynamic motion and relative brightness in scenes at the level of individual pixels. In July 2021, an Astrobotic-led team including ASU, the University of Pittsburgh, and industry partners was selected for a $1.7M Space Force Pitch Day award to further develop event-based and neuromorphic processing methods for space robotics and sensing applications. This effort will build on previous work for robust, low power perception developed by Astrobotic for NASA and civil space interests. The sensor, called RetiNav, will combine cutting edge sensing and computing and ready them for dual use supporting both civil and defense space tech needs.