Thursday, March 3, 2011

Astrobotic's Guide for lunar payload developers


Lander-rover architecture by Astrobotic Technology, a leading competitor for the Google Lunar X-Prize [Astrobotic Technology, Inc.]

Astrobotic Technology today released a new guide for researchers on preparation of their instruments for the company's planned December 2013 robotic expedition to the surface of the Moon.

The expedition, based on technology from Carnegie Mellon University, will carry up to 240 pounds of science, engineering, and marketing payloads. Any university, government agency or company is eligible to purchase payload accommodations on the December 2013 flight.

"To get their sensors and experiments to the lunar surface, researchers have had to propose entire missions to space agencies such as NASA or the European Space Agency," said Astrobotic president David Gump.

"This initiative allows engineers and scientists to focus on just their own instruments, with Astrobotic providing the delivery and support utilities like power and communications. They can buy just what they need from us by the pound, watt, and byte."

Last month Astrobotic announced that it has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch its mission on a Falcon 9 rocket, the same vehicle that NASA will use to send supplies to the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 will throw the Astrobotic spacecraft into a lunar trajectory for a four-day cruise to the Moon.
Read the full release, HERE.

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