Astrobotic unveils private robotic lunar lander it aims to launch to the Moon

This afternoon, commercial space company Astrobotic unveiled its nearly complete robotic lunar lander, designed to take payloads for paying customers like NASA to the surface of the Moon. It marks the first time the company has shown the mostly finished flight hardware for the lander ahead of its launch, tentatively scheduled for late this year.

Called the Peregrine Lunar Lander, the spacecraft is roughly the size of a squat refrigerator, standing just over six feet tall. Five main engines mounted on the lander’s base will help navigate the vehicle through space and eventually allow the vehicle to touch down on the surface of the Moon. The vehicle has various locations it can store mounted payloads for experiments designed to take advantage of the lunar environment and customers who just want their products on the lunar surface.

Astrobotic, based in Pittsburgh, is one of two private companies aiming to become the first to send a commercial robotic lander to the Moon — and have it land in one piece. The other is Intuitive Machines, based out of Houston, which is building its own robotic lunar lander called Nova-C. Both companies have received multimillion-dollar contracts from NASA to help spur the development of their landers, which, in turn, provide the space agency with a way to get scientific experiments to the Moon. It’s a small part of NASA’s flagship Artemis program, a major effort by the agency to eventually return humans to the lunar surface.

By funding multiple companies, NASA also hoped to spur some friendly competition. Originally, the agency had funded three companies in its first round of contracts, known as the CLPS program, but one of the awardees dropped out. Now, it’s down to Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, both of which are aiming to fly their landers sometime this year.

“Our first priority is mission success, and if it happens to be the first, great,” John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic, tells The Verge. “And if it’s not, that’s fine too. Really, success is the most important, but it is the first commercial lander that is unveiled. We haven’t seen any hardware or pictures of [Intuitive Machines’] spacecraft yet.” (Another privately built lunar lander, made by Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL, attempted to reach the Moon in 2019, but didn’t quite stick the landing.)

Members of NASA’s leadership team, including administrator Bill Nelson and Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science, were on hand at Astrobotic’s facility today for the unveiling. “This is an exciting time and our commercial partners are very much a part of this,” Nelson said during brief remarks at Astrobotic.

Image: Astrobotic

The lander’s flight structure was presented today, but some tanks, solar panels, propulsion, and other attributes still need to be added to the vehicle. “Obviously the lander is still being built,…