CubeRover, developed by Astrobotic, is a class of small, modular planetary rovers designed to reduce the cost and increase access to lunar exploration. These rovers are designed to carry scientific instruments and payloads on the Moon's surface, offering mobility as a service for technology demonstrations and scientific investigations. CubeRovers are customizable and scalable, using standard interfaces to simplify payload integration, and are compatible with multiple lunar landers. Key partners include NASA, with funding through SBIR and Tipping Point programs.
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Astrobotic will deliver its second CubeRover to NASA early next year after mobility testing in the simulant lab, a thermal vacuum chamber, a vibration table, and other offsite test facilities.
The base station, power receiver, and CubeRover flight units will be delivered to NASA with the goal of being infused into a near-term lunar mission via the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program in 2023.
Astrobotic’s CubeRover development will continue under a $2,000,000 NASA Tipping Point contract that concludes in February 2022.
Astrobotic’s Planetary Mobility department delivered rover hardware to an outside entity for the first time with the CubeRover.
Work for both CubeRover contracts began 2020-09 and will continue through 2022-07-01.
The GPR antenna funded by the $741,000 contract will integrate with a prototype of Astrobotic’s 6U CubeRover and be tested on the ground.
The 4U CubeRover will house neutron-detecting technology developed by Radiation Detection Technologies and will test the detector at a lunar surface analogue site.
CubeRover was developed in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University and the NASA Kennedy Space Center with partial funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program.
Astrobotic received a $2,000,000 NASA Tipping Point contract for CubeRover.
Astrobotic will partner with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to equip CubeRover with a smart vision system that can adapt resolution to provide high definition for critical science targets and lower definition for routine navigation to preserve bandwidth.
CubeRover SARL and the government of Luxembourg agreed on 2018-09-27 to develop next-generation planetary rovers in Luxembourg.
CubeRover’s Luxembourg office will develop small, medium, and large CubeRovers to support government agencies, companies, and universities globally.
Astrobotic developed the CubeRover platform in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University under a NASA technology development contract at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Astrobotic announced the NASA SBIR Phase 2 award for the CubeRover collaboration in March 2018.
Astrobotic is developing a two-kilogram CubeRover with Carnegie Mellon University under a NASA Small Business Innovative Research Phase 2 award.
Astrobotic intends to fly the first CubeRover on its Peregrine lunar lander to the Moon in 2020.
CubeRover is designed to be used by various entities, including companies, governments, universities, and non-profits, for their own lunar science and exploration missions.
CubeRover provides a low-cost mobility capability to the lunar surface for customers around the world.
Astrobotic has been selected by NASA for a Phase II SBIR Award to develop CubeRover, a 2-kg rover platform for small-scale science and exploration on the Moon and other planetary surfaces.
The Phase II development will last two years and aims to deliver a flight-ready CubeRover to NASA.