Whereas its next-generation rocket has but to fly, that’s not stopping SpaceX from reserving Starship flights. On Friday, a startup named Astrolab revealed that it had just lately signed an settlement with Elon Musk’s personal area agency to order a spot on an uncrewed Starship cargo mission that would launch as early as mid-2026. “That is SpaceX’s first industrial cargo contract to the lunar floor,” Jaret Matthews, CEO of Astrolab, instructed The New York Occasions, including his firm was one of some clients concerned within the flight.
Astrolab is constructing a automobile it hopes will sooner or later carry gear, provides and other people throughout the lunar floor. The Versatile Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover is in regards to the measurement of a Jeep Wrangler, making it a bit greater than NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. It additionally encompasses a robotic arm for helping with cargo and may journey as much as 15 miles per hour. Oh, and FLEX can carry as much as two astronauts.
As soon as it lands on the Moon, Astrolab claims FLEX will turn into the biggest rover to journey the lunar floor. Matthews instructed The Occasions Astrolab already has clients ready to make use of the rover to hold cargo in the course of the 2026 Starship mission. Trying additional to the longer term, Matthews mentioned FLEX may help with constructing a everlasting human presence on the Moon and past. “Finally our objective is to have a fleet of rovers each on the Moon and Mars,” he mentioned. “And I actually assume I see these automobiles because the catalysts in the end for the off-Earth economic system.”
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