Astrobotic Technology

The effort is based on the prospect that lunar resources can be mined and processed into construction materials at a lower cost than launching them from Earth.

As part of a demonstration, Astrobotic will use an AI-enabled software program to control and monitor its CubeRover lunar rover on its upcoming Moon mission.

Astrobotic and JAXA wrestle with landing on the Moon.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

Japan has become the fifth country to soft-land a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, but engineers are assessing an issue with its power system.

Astrobotic wrapped up its first space mission with the destructive reentry of its Peregrine lunar lander in Earth’s atmosphere on Jan. 18.

Astrobotic is projecting its troubled Peregrine lunar lander will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean two days earlier than previous estimates.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic is preparing to send its Peregrine lunar lander toward a destructive reentry into Earth’s atmosphere on Jan. 18.

With its Moon landing no longer a possibility, Peregrine was repurposed for in-space operations.

Astrobotic has repurposed its Peregrine lander for in-space operations and activated all 10 powered experiments aboard, the company said Jan. 11.

A propulsion system leak aboard the privately operated Peregrine spacecraft will preclude a planned landing on the Moon.

A propulsion issue, which initially prevented the spacecraft from properly orienting toward the Sun, could thwart its planned touchdown on the Moon.

United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral SFS on Jan. 8.

Astrobotic Technology is pitching an innovative strategy for the future mining of the Moon using rocket propulsion for extraction.

NASA soon intends to lift the curtain on a whole new strategy of turning to America’s private sector for the launch of a lunar lander.

A privately owned lunar lander slated to fly aboard the first United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket arrived in Florida on Oct. 30 for launch preparations.

The original launch date for IM's Nova-C lunar lander—from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center atop a Falcon 9 rocket—was planned for as soon as mid-November.

The U.S. Space Force will require two missions prior to using the booster for national security space missions for the ULA Vulcan Centaur launcher.

United Launch Alliance plans to modify the Centaur V upper stage of its new Vulcan rocket, likely delaying the booster’s debut flight to late this year.

United Launch Alliance has completed a 6-sec. hot fire of the methane-burning BE-4 engines that power the first stage of its new Vulcan rocket.

Westinghouse Electric Company and Astrobotic have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore development of space nuclear technologies.

More analysis of a Blue Origin BE-4 qualification engine for ULA’s Vulcan rocket program is pushing the booster’s debut flight to no earlier than May 4.