
Astrolab’s FLIP rover joins Astrobotic’s Griffin-1 to the Moon
HAWTHORNE, California and PITTSBURGH – February 5, 2025 – Today, Venturi Astrolab (Astrolab)
and Astrobotic announced that Astrobotic’s Griffin lander will deliver an Astrolab rover to the Moon
as part of Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One (Griffin-1). The rover, currently known as FLIP (FLEX Lunar
Innovation Platform), will be deployed at the Nobile Region of the lunar south pole. The Astrobotic
mission, originally carrying the VIPER payload as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload
Services (CLPS) initiative, is scheduled for delivery at the end of 2025.
“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,” says John Thornton, Astrobotic’s founder
and CEO.
Astrobotic is at the forefront of making the Moon accessible to the world as a leading provider of
lunar transportation, mobility, and power. In July, NASA announced its intent to discontinue the
VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project due to funding constraints, future
budget risks, and lander delays. The NASA CLPS contract to deliver VIPER to the Moon has been
modified to serve as a large lander demonstration flight. Astrobotic’s Griffin lander will demonstrate
this capability and fly a similar mass load as VIPER to the South Pole region of the Moon. To help
achieve this goal, Astrobotic’s Griffin lander will deploy Astrolab’s FLIP rover on the Moon. FLIP will
demonstrate core components and subsystems used on the company’s large-scale vehicle, the
Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover, introduced in 2022.
“By joining Griffin Mission One, we will gather key insights into how lunar rovers like FLIP and FLEX
operate in real lunar conditions,” said Jaret Matthews, founder and CEO, Astrolab. “Bringing FLIP to
the Moon offers an opportunity to demonstrate and test many of the critical technologies that will
advance the commercial FLEX vehicle, including full-sized batteries, tires, critical avionics systems,
sensors, and software.”
In 2023, Astrolab announced an agreement with SpaceX to land the commercial FLEX rover on the
Moon as soon as December 2026. SpaceX will transport FLEX to the lunar surface using its Starship
launch and landing system, and Astrolab has agreed to a two-year launch window with SpaceX. The
FLIP platform provides an opportunity not only to mature technologies for the core FLEX platform
but also to enable the acquisition of critical science data prior to this commercial mission.
“Losing VIPER could’ve been a setback, but Astrobotic didn’t let up. They rolled up their sleeves,
found a new way forward, and made sure this mission stays on track. With Astrolab’s FLIP rover
onboard, we’re showing the world that when challenges come our way, we double down,” said John
Fetterman, U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania.
“This is how we lead—not by playing it safe but by pushing forward with the technology that’ll shape
the future of exploration. I couldn’t be prouder that Pennsylvania’s Astrobotic is making sure
America stays first in line to the lunar South Pole,” Fetterman said.
Additional background on the FLIP rover
Last year, Astrolab, together with its partner Venturi Space, unveiled a development prototype of
the FLIP rover at the 75th International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy. The rover is designed
to respond to the growing number of institutional, businesses and scientific organizations in the
U.S. and European markets, which are seeking access to the Moon for smaller payloads.
“FLIP offers customers many of the same payload space configurations as the larger FLEX rover we
are using on our upcoming commercial mission, Mission One. This continues a goal we set for
ourselves when we introduced the FLEX in 2022,” said Matthews. “We want to set the standard for
lunar logistics. Just as there are standard sizes of shipping containers used in intermodal shipping
on Earth, we seek to do the same on the Moon.”
FLIP has a mass of a nearly half a metric ton, a payload capacity of 30 kg, and has been designed to
be compatible with medium-class lunar landers now entering the commercial space market. In
addition, the rover offers customers opportunities to perform technology demonstrations and
commercial exploration as well as gather valuable science data. It also features critical
components, subsystems, and processes common to the core platform used by the FLEX rover.
As part of this mission, Astrolab intends to carry several payloads that will advance the company’s
understanding of the most effective ways to mitigate the risks that lunar dust poses to vehicles,
structures, and spacecraft systems on the Moon’s surface. Specifically, these payloads will test the
effectiveness of protective coatings on various components of the FLIP rover, such as the solar
array and radiator. They also will measure and quantify the rate of dust accumulation on surfaces. The company is also testing new dust sealing strategies on FLIP’s wheel actuators. In addition,
Astrolab is evaluating the performance of critical technologies in the extreme temperatures and
unique terrain found at the lunar South Pole. These tests will include demonstrating FLIP’s hyper-deformable airless tires and batteries developed by Astroloab’s partner, Venturi Space. The lessons
learned from this mission will help identify risk mitigation strategies to be used in Astrolab’s future
commercial missions.
About Astrolab
Astrolab is on a mission to move humanity forward to the next horizon by designing, building, and
operating a fleet of multi-purpose rovers for all planetary surface needs. Formed by a highly
specialized team of NASA veterans, former SpaceXers and JPL engineers, Astrolab is laser-focused
on providing adaptive mobility solutions essential for life beyond Earth. In 2023, Astrolab
announced an agreement with SpaceX to land a FLEX rover on the Moon as soon as late 2026. In
2024, NASA awarded the company a contract to advance the development of NASA’s Lunar Terrain
Vehicle (LTV) which will help Artemis astronauts explore more of the Moon’s surface on future
missions.
The Astrolab team has industry-leading experience in terrestrial and planetary robotics, electric
vehicles, human spaceflight and more. Astrolab’s depth of experience and strategic partnerships
with a wide array of world-class institutions, including electric vehicle pioneer Venturi Group,
enables the delivery of Lunar and Mars mobility offerings at maximum reliability, flexibility, and cost
effectiveness. The company is headquartered in Hawthorne, California. For more information, visit
astrolab.space or follow us on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.
About Astrobotic
Astrobotic is at the forefront of advancing space exploration and technology development. Our
expertise spans from lunar rovers, landers, navigation, machine vision, and infrastructure to
terrestrial rockets and mesh GPS systems for austere environments. To date, the company has
been contracted for two lunar missions, and has won more than 60 NASA, DoD, and commercial
technology contracts worth more than $600 million.
The Astrobotic team launched the first US commercial lunar lander to operate in space. Beyond
helping lead America back to the Moon, the company develops and operates reusable vertical
takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rockets and advanced rocket engines. Established in 2007,
Astrobotic is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, with a propulsion and test campus in Mojave, CA.
Media Contacts
John Taylor, Astrolab
(571) 437-4685
[email protected]
Alivia Chapla, Astrobotic
(864) 704-5685
[email protected]