UK-based robot rover startup Spacepit has booked a second payload delivery to the moon at the Nova-C lander. Intuitive machines It is scheduled to launch in 2021 as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. SpacePit already has a berth in the astrophotic peregrine lander, which will go to the moon in July 2021, so it will follow quickly in the background of that vulcan rocket, and the current mission deadline is October 2021 to deliver intuitive engines via SpaceX Falcon 9.
Spacespit’s Asagumo 4-legged walking rover is ready to fly on that first CLPS mission (which NASA created as a source for business partners to deliver tests and payloads to the moon with private cargo ahead of its Artemis crew’s lunar missions). For this second Nova-C lander launch, Spacepit is producing a wheel rover carrying a small NASA science module. Both the wheel and the walking rover are designed to assess what kind of resources are on the lunar surface, with the aim of providing support for the Artemis project.
This will give the spacepad many opportunities to evaluate Regolith’s makeup (similar to other planets’ soil), which is its primary goal with these missions. Different rover designs also indicate that it is better suited for the task. The 4-foot design is designed to make the walking rover better suited to dealing with uneven surfaces, as well as the opportunity to explore other areas such as volcanic flow tubes and caves that are ideal for future lunar habitat formation.
