Astrobotic awarded NASA funding to build autonomous rover

PITTSBURGH — NASA awarded Pittsburgh-based aerospace robotics company Astrobotic $5.6 million to develop an autonomous lunar rover with Carnegie Mellon University.

Named MoonRanger, the 13-kilogram unmanned rover aims to create high fidelity maps of the moon’s surface, particularly in areas scientists know little about such as polar regions and lunar pits. The rover will act as a test for future work in “exploration autonomy,” Mike Provenzano, director of planetary mobility at Astrobotic, said.

The funding for this rover comes from NASA’s Lunar Surface and Instrumentation and Technology Payload program, but it’s not the only autonomous rover Astrobotic has in development.

TRENDING NOW:

Pittsburgh Business Times